


until a brand new world takes shape

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: i get to love you (the best thing that i'll ever do) [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Asexual Raphael Santiago, Bisexual Clary Fray, Bisexual Jace Wayland, Bisexual Maia Roberts, Each ship will get its shining moment, Everything is sweet and nothing hurts, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Gay Underhill, Happy Ending, Immortal Alec Lightwood, Immortal Husbands, M/M, Multi, No Amnesia, One Year Later, Pansexual Simon Lewis, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Rare Pairings, Vampire Raphael Santiago, Vampire Simon Lewis, and remember each other, except jonathan and the seelie queen, just a little bit tho, my children get to live and be happy, raphael is not a priest, those bitches can stay dead for all i care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-02-28 06:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18751159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: We enter a restaurant. A family, loud and enthusiastic, occupies the table in the corner. At the head of the table sits a mundane woman and her werewolf fiance, who are waiting until the end of the dinner to announce their engagement.  The owner of the restaurant actually sits among the bustle, hand in hand with her red-haired Shadowhunter girlfriend. They're so close together that they're practically sitting in each other's laps. The High Warlock of Alicante sits to the right of the mundane woman.  He and his husband are discussing the newest politics in Alicante. The Head of the New York Institute is sitting next to the High Inquisitor. The two men sitting on her other side drink glasses of blood. On the far side of the owner of the restaurant, the Seelie King's lips curve into a smirk as he whispers into his Shadowhunter boyfriend's ear while the Shadowhunter takes a sip of his wine. At a table to the side of this rowdy bunch sits a warlock with his hair pulled back into a ponytail and a crooked smile on his lips. Opposite him sits the tallest man in the room, a Shadowhunter with close-cropped blond hair.Let's learn their stories, shall we?(One year later, everything is still going quite well.)





	1. you're the best of the dreamers (i'm a fan of your style)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [felinedetached](https://archiveofourown.org/users/felinedetached/gifts).



> Title is from "Earth" by Sleeping At Last.
> 
> So, anyone who wants background for this fic should probably read the last one in the series to get notes on all of the small changes that lead into the "one year later" in this AU. Some of the changes are small- like, say, that Alec is immortal thanks to a new rune from Clary- and others are huge, like the fact that Raphael is still a vampire or that Clary broke up with Jace weeks before the wedding and still has her memories.
> 
> Each chapter will focus on a different pairing, with other pairings only showing up as background, while the final chapter focuses on the whole family as a group.
> 
> This was supposed to be a couple thousand word one-shot, and then this spiralled from it. Hope you guys all like, and that you'll continue with me until the end!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter is "Holding Out For You" by Lizzy Land, which is the song that played during the wedding reception when Heline was dancing and Lorenzo and Underhill met.
> 
> Welcome to my darling crackship that somehow became canon, which will somehow also describe Jace and Meliorn next chapter. The finale did things to me.

_We enter a restaurant and find a rather strange group arrayed before us. A family, loud and enthusiastic, occupies the table in the corner. At the head of the table sits a mundane woman and her werewolf fiance, who are waiting until the end of the dinner to announce their engagement._ _The owner of the restaurant actually sits among the bustle, hand in hand with her red-haired Shadowhunter girlfriend. They're comparing notes about their days and they're so close together that they're_ _practically sitting in each other's laps. And no surprise- this is the first moment they’ve gotten to see each other today._ _The High Warlock of Alicante sits to the right of the mundane woman, a ring glinting on his hand._ _His husband, the High Inquisitor himself, sits on his other side, and the two of them are discussing the newest politics in Alicante._ _The Head of the New York Institute is sitting next to the High Inquisitor. The Head's hair is finally down after being held up in a ponytail all day._ _The two men sitting on her other side drink glasses of blood, and as one of them lifts his glass to his lips she leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek. On the far side of the owner of the restaurant, t_ _he Seelie King's lips curve into a smirk as he whispers into his Shadowhunter boyfriend's ear while the Shadowhunter takes a sip of his wine. The Shadowhunter's eyes widen in shock and he turns to face his boyfriend, a million questions on his lips._ _At a table to the side of this rowdy bunch sits a warlock with his hair pulled back into a ponytail and a crooked smile on his lips. Opposite him sits the tallest man in the room, a Shadowhunter with close-cropped blond hair. The Shadowhunter throws back his head in laughter at something the warlock says, and the warlock's smile softens._

_Let's follow these two. They seem like they're having quite a good time._

 

__

 

**LORENZO**

  

There’s a knock at Lorenzo’s office door at about noon, and Lorenzo smiles as he waves a hand towards the door, his golden magic pulling the door open to reveal his Shadowhunter boyfriend standing there, a familiar smile on his face.

“Come on in,” Lorenzo says, gesturing to the desk in front of him “Turkish or Paella?”

“Paella, definitely,” Andrew says as he walks in, naming the food that Lorenzo introduced him to seven months ago. Of all the foods that Lorenzo has shown Andrew (nearly all of them Spanish, whether traditional classics or modern innovations), Lorenzo knows that this one is still his favorite.

Lorenzo clears the middle of his desk and summons the food as Andrew sits down in the chair on the other side of Lorenzo’s desk after making a small detour to press a quick kiss to Lorenzo's cheek.

Lorenzo must admit that he really enjoys getting to spend lunches with Andrew. It’s been more of a recent thing, as Andrew’s been able to clear away more time in the middle of the day over the past few months.

Since the disintegration of Edom and the steady decrease in demon invasions, Alec Lightwood- who was supported by a majority of the remaining Institutes in ascending to the role of High Inquisitor- has been transitioning the focus of Institutes from patrolling demons and policing the Downworld into promoting cooperation between Shadowhunters and Downworlders. Such goals have led to the creation of "Ambassador" positions in every Institute, where someone is chosen to work specifically with one of the four Downworld factions.

Andrew’s role as the New York Institute’s ambassador to the Warlocks leaves a good deal of leeway to his time nowadays, and Lorenzo has to hand it to the new High Inquisitor and how his actions have indirectly given him more time with Andrew.

“How is our dear Head of the Institute doing?” Lorenzo asks as Andrew scoops up a bite of saffron-infused rice onto his fork. 

“She was asking how our dear High Warlock of Brooklyn was doing,” Andrew says, a small smile curling his lips. Andrew has a rather definite sense of humor. He finds a number of things amusing, from the infinitely mundane to the special. He was definitely the first person to outright laugh at Lorenzo's portraits, though it wasn't out of malice- it was a sense of sheer enjoyment, an honest sense of humor.

Though Andrew has the capacity for extreme seriousness, it’s a joy to see his lighthearted side as well. It brings out Lorenzo’s own sense of humor, an honest amusement he has kept himself from for years.

Lorenzo has spent centuries scraping and working for everything he wants. He’s been bitterly ambitious and callous in his climb to the top, wanting to earn respect and status among his fellow warlocks. He was fathered by a lowly demon, one left almost nameless in any scrolls, and has had no ease in charisma, connections, or status to aid him in his quest for notice. 

Andrew, on the other hand, is a lot more effortlessly charming than Alec Lightwood was, and maybe even more so than Lorenzo is. Lorenzo’s charisma has come along a lot over the years, but he has had to cultivate it. Andrew just has a sort of earnest charisma that just  _happens_. He's shown it over and over, from their first meeting at Magnus and Alec's wedding to the numerous parties Lorenzo has hosted since they began dating. Andrew has shown up to nearly all of them (his job prevented him from a few, back when he was Head of Security, but when he became Ambassador to the New York Warlocks his social schedule really opened up), a smile on his lips and an ease about him. 

And to be honest, Lorenzo loves it. He's not jealous of Andrew like he once was of Magnus- instead, he appreciates the talents his boyfriend has that he doesn't.

"What did you tell her?" Lorenzo asks as Andrew eats a bite. He watches as Andrew smiles that small, delighted grin that he always does when he's eating paella.

"I told her I'd let her know after I had lunch with the famous man in question," Andrew replies.

Being turned into a lizard and venturing into Edom to help Alec Lightwood save Magnus really did change a lot for Lorenzo, as has dating Andrew.  _Especially_ dating Andrew has changed Lorenzo, he must admit.

Dating Andrew, giving his heart to him- it’s a risk he hasn’t made in a good couple of decades. He’s certainly dated and fucked some people in the meantime, but letting them stay the night in his house, have lunch with him on such a constant basis, make him  _smile_ so often- that's new. And maybe Magnus Bane made him reevaluate his recent actions regarding some of his more blindly ambitious actions, but the whole love thing- that's all Andrew.

And to Lorenzo's suprise, he doesn't mind. In fact, he wants nothing more than to continue this relationship, to keep waking up most mornings to Andrew's face, to babysitting Madzie and going on dates and introducing Andrew to more Spanish food. He looks forward to nothing more than he does the smile on Andrew's face when he tries a new food or makes a new joke.

If Lorenzo could have his way with the universe, he would spend as many years as possible as the High Warlock of Brooklyn, helping out other Warlocks, maintaining a good relationship with the Institute, and being able to have these lunches with Andrew.

 

**UNDERHILL**

 

After the end of lunch, Andrew hovers at the door, reluctant to leave. As much as he loves his job, he has to admit that he cares about Lorenzo just as much. "See you at Taki's this evening?" he says, and Lorenzo smiles that crooked, wide smile that he only ever smiles for Andrew or the little warlock girl Madzie, when he is called upon to babysit her- the smile that makes Andrew feel so special.

"Of course," Lorenzo says, then leans in and kisses Andrew- no too deeply, still keeping some measure of propriety. They  _are_ in his office, after all. "It  _is_ date night."

Andrew gives his boyfriend a small, fond smile once their lips part. "That it is."

"Don't be late," Lorenzo says, a teasing lilt to his voice.

"Never am," Andrew says with a wink, and Lorenzo rolls his eyes.

"Get to work, Shadowhunter."

Andrew isn't one to shirk an opportunity to tease his boyfriend, even as he heads out to work. "Ambassador Underhill to you, High Warlock Rey."

"That you are, Ambassador," Lorenzo concedes, " _Specifically_ Ambassador to us warlocks, though, so I guess a certain level of formality can be shirked."

"Well, if that's the way you want to play it," Andrew says, then leans in and steals a quick kiss before ducking out the door and heading down the hallway at a brisk pace with a smile on his lips. He knows that Lorenzo loves having the last word, and-

A message burns into the air in front of him when he's on the elevator down to the street.  _Can't wait to see you tonight,_ the piece of paper reads _, Hasta luego._

And Andrew can't bring himself to be even a little mad, he's too busy smiling fondly at the note.

-

“How is the High Warlock doing?” Isabelle asks Andrew, a very knowing and suggestive smile on her lips as he walks with her into her office. Even after being promoted to Head of the Institute, she hasn’t lost her way with amused innuendo.

Andrew can give as good as he is given.

“Quite well, I believe,” Andrew says, “Same as the Head of the New York Vampire Clan, I suspect.”

There’s a teasing glint in Isabelle’s eyes that Andrew is sure is reflected in his own gaze, though probably a bit less obvious. They share a certain wavelength, her and him.

Andrew's always been not quite the perfect Shadowhunter, because of his martial skills. He's always been a good fighter, though not a exceptional one. He can't take out four demons with one shot, like Alec has, can't fight three demons at once with one sword like Jace, can't even begin to figure out how to take out Great Demons with weapons alone. He's  _good_ with his chosen weapon- throwing knives- but he's never going to have his name down as legendary. And he's okay with that. His talents have always lied more in the strategy level, in reading people and determining the ways they are likely to act.

Most Shadowhunters don't share his same opinion about the validity of his skill set. Physicality, in Shadowhunter tradition, is often prized higher than strategic thinking. People who can take down the most demons are hailed as heroes, while those with quick minds are viewed as necessary and solid but not lauded. There's a reason why his job as Head of Security was often 

Perhaps, with the changes in priorities for Shadowhunters, strategy will become considered more important than sheer physical ability. A well-spoken word, a bright mind, a hand for politics- those will be considered the most valuable.

He supposes that is why Isabelle Lightwood is such a good choice for the Head of an Institute in the new world that the destruction of Edom and the reign of Alec Lightwood brought about- she's one of the most brilliant Shadowhunters the New York Institute has ever seen. She's smart and clever and she knows how to work people to her side of things.

He also knows that he's already seen signs of more mental and interpersonal skills being prized in the current climate- after all, the creation of the high-ranking positions of Ambassadors to the Downworld, with attention given to each faction with Ambassadors specifically chosen for each, is certainly a sign of the importance of diplomacy. He himself being made Ambassador to the Warlocks of New York raised his status far above his former job as Head of Security did in the world before Edom was destroyed.

He smiles. The job has certainly made it easier for him to spend time with the High Warlock of Brooklyn- who just so fortunately happens to be his boyfriend.

And that's another reason why his relationship is important to him- not just because he's in love (which he is, he knows, even if he hasn't admitted it to Lorenzo yet), but because of the ways in which his relationship with Lorenzo has improved and pushed him. Lorenzo's sense of ambition has rubbed off on Andrew, a bit. He pushed to get this position, so that he could use his skills and talents to improve things like Alec did.

"Though in all seriousness," he says as he sits down across from her at her desk in the Head of the Institute's office, "I do have to discuss the matter of the imbalance in trade regulations regarding Class 3 Potions and the tariff our Institute currently carries against bat's boils."

The teasing smile leaves Isabelle's face, replaced by an all-serious expression. "I'm all ears." 

-

When their meeting regarding the current economic concerns of the Warlocks concludes, Isabelle shifts to a much less business-like posture and tone. In turn, Andrew relaxes a little as well, returning back to their more friendly out-of-work relationship.

"What's going on with you tonight?" he asks, honestly searching for an answer.

"Family dinner," Isabelle says.

"Are Raphael and Simon attending as well?" Andrew asks, and Isabelle's smile sharpens just a little.

"Of course they are," she confirms the obvious regarding her partners. There's a reason why she is doubling as the New York Institute's Ambassador to the Vampires, after all. "And what about you? What are you doing this evening?"

"Date night," Andrew answers, "We're going to  _Taki's_."

"Same as us, actually," Isabelle says, "So let me apologize ahead of time for the noise."

Andrew shrugs. "Lorenzo and I have gotten used to it when Madzie stays over. She's certainly learned how to use her voice lately."

Isabelle's smile grows fond at the mention of the young Warlock. "And we're all glad she has."

Andrew thinks of Madzie and the way she spent the night at Lorenzo's place a few nights ago- as Andrew himself has taken to doing more and more lately. He remembers how she had raced up and down the halls, causing the walls and ceiling to turn an array of colors, and how Lorenzo had chased her down the hallway with a laugh and had ended up catching up to her at the end and ended up distracting the little girl with a dance that had both kept her occupied (thus preventing more magic from turning the rest of the house rainbow colors) and had entertained the little girl.

Andrew remembers watching for a good few minutes and smiling the most fond smile he thinks he's ever smiled before Lorenzo had asked Madzie if she wanted Andrew to join in as well.

Lorenzo's not as good with Madzie as Magnus and Alec are, but he's certainly close. That fond smile of his, the way he works so easily with her and helps her out-

Yeah, Andrew's definitely in love with Lorenzo. Not there was any doubt, but he's pretty sure he can fully admit it to himself now.

"I know that look," Isabelle says with a smirk. "You're thinking about him, aren't you?"

"And so what about it?" Andrew says, tone not quite defensive but more just a little curious.

Her smile is soft. "You love him, don't you?"

Two years ago, Andrew never would have admitted such a thing. In a world before Magnus and Alec's wedding, in the old Shadowhunter culture, admitting he loved a warlock- a _male_ warlock, at that- would have been a massive scandal. Even still in some places in the Shadow world today there are still a few people who continue to think such things.

But Andrew feels no fear when he says: "Yeah, I think so. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with Lorenzo."

"Well, he's certainly not my first choice, but if you like him, he'll do," she says, and then gives him a small shrug. "And besides, it will definitely improve Warlock-Shadowhunter relations in the area."

Andrew lets out a small snort. "As if your brother didn't already do that."

"Well, the High Inquisitor certainly helped," she says, saying Alec's title with the same pride that she always does. "But now he's living in Alicante and we would definitely like to keep relations good on the local level as well."

"Well, I'm more than willing to help out," Andrew says, "Though I've gotta remind you that my relationship with my boyfriend  _is_ out of affection, not just for the greater good."

Isabelle waves a dismissive hand. "Oh, I know. Trust me, I can relate. Simon and Raphael, remember?"

Andrew chuckles. Yeah, he remembers about her relationship with two vampires, the most open secret the New York Institute currently has.

His phone vibrates, and he glances down at it to see Lorenzo's name flash across the screen.  _Call me when you have a chance_ , the text notification reads,  _I've got a free moment and I'd love to talk._

"Mine if I...?" he asks Isabelle, gesturing to the phone, and she nods.

"Clary should be coming in here in just a few minutes anyway to discuss the werewolves' issues," Isabelle says, "Feel free to go call your boyfriend."

Andrew's more than willing to take her offer and leave the room. He selects Lorenzo's name at the top of his contacts and presses the green  _call_ button.

" _Cariño_ ," Lorenzo begins the call, and the term of endearment makes warm fondness bloom in Andrew's chest. "I just wanted to call and ask how the meeting with Isabelle went."

Andrew smiles. "I'd love to talk," he says, and heads out of Isabelle's office to go head to his own small office to work on filing official paperwork regarding his petition against the regulations.

 


	2. when i'm tired (do you lay down with me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title is from "Don't Forget About Me" by Cloves, as appearing in early Season 2 of Shadowhunters, though to be honest I mostly wrote this chapter to the song "Wide-Eyed" by Billy Lockett, which was used in Season 2, Episode 18 (you all know what scene).
> 
> Alright, so this section has some major hurt/comfort and some internal angst from Jace, but mostly a lot of fluff and surprisingly deep Jace/Meliorn moments. Seriously, I went into this AU totally shipping them as like a ship of passion type thing, but no- they really proved me wrong here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, I think all of the titles of these chapters will be from songs from the show. As a tribute of sorts, I guess.

_We enter a restaurant and find a rather strange group arrayed before us. A family, loud and enthusiastic, occupies the table in the corner. At the head of the table sits a mundane woman and her werewolf fiance, who are waiting until the end of the dinner to announce their engagement. The owner of the restaurant actually sits among the bustle, hand in hand with her red-haired Shadowhunter girlfriend. They're comparing notes about their days and they're so close together that they're practically sitting in each other's laps. And no surprise- this is the first moment they’ve gotten to see each other today. The High Warlock of Alicante sits to the right of the mundane woman, a ring glinting on his hand. His husband, the High Inquisitor himself, sits on his other side, and the two of them are discussing the newest politics in Alicante. The Head of the New York Institute is sitting next to the High Inquisitor. The Head's hair is finally down after being held up in a ponytail all day. The two men sitting on her other side drink glasses of blood, and as one of them lifts his glass to his lips she leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek. On the far side of the owner of the restaurant, the Seelie King's lips curve into a smirk as he whispers into his Shadowhunter boyfriend's ear while the Shadowhunter takes a sip of his wine. The Shadowhunter's eyes widen in shock and he turns to face his boyfriend, a million questions on his lips._

_I wonder what the Seelie just said, what could have caused such a reaction. Let's take a look._

 

 

  

**JACE**

Jace is fucking exhausted when he arrives at Meliorn's flat- a small apartment that he keeps in the Shadow World as a point of rest from the new pressures of his position in the Seelie Realm. As the new Seelie King, Meliorn spends a great amount of his time in the Seelie Realm. But unlike his predecessor, he has a certain fondness for the Shadow World and even the Nephilim, so he has kept his lease on the apartment he had before the Seelie Queen died.

Jace is exhausted and aching after the fight he just had. Without constant demon fighting, he's slipped a bit out of shape even with his practice sparring. There's something to be said for the survival and battle instinct cultivated through sheer immersion that can't be said for training alone. After all, that's the reason why he's currently standing at the door to Meliorn's place, arm held to his chest. There's ichor and other dirt on his jacket, like usual, but what's not as usual are the bandages wrapped around Jace's wrist. The demon managed to get in a massive lucky hit, and though Jace's healing rune did a decent amount of recovery, it's still a mass of pain. 

Now Jace knows that on another day, with another failure, Jace would have probably gone straight from the battlefield to the infirmary, and then to pounding away at the punching bag and the training room from hours, dwelling in the sting of failure. He would have blamed himself entirely for what happened and would have wound up with bleeding knuckles from the punching bag. He would have bruised himself again in some attempt to get better at fighting.

But instead he's here, at Meliorn's place, with his arm bandaged by himself and the hope that Meliorn might be able to help him better than the infirmary can. Jace does know that Meliorn is really good with healing spells and herbs.

The last year has certainly changed a lot when it comes to Jace's priorities, as to what he views as the right thing to do, and his relationship with Meliorn has gotten to the point where he can lean on Meliorn in times of vulnerability and weakness. He doesn't have to worry about Meliorn judging him or using his weakness against him.

Jace swallows as he opens the door with his non-bandaged hand. It's been a bit of a wild year since the trip to Edom. So much has changed, and he's not sure that he could even pinpoint when and how everything shifted for him. When did Meliorn become a place of comfort and not just a good fuckbuddy? Was it after Alec was named High Inquisitor and Izzy Head of the Institute, when Jace was named Ambassador to the Seelies of New York? Was it after their first actual date to somewhere other than Meliorn's apartment, when they'd gone out to Hunter's Moon and gotten drunk and ended up making out in the alley right behind the bar? Was it somewhere simpler and quieter and more casual along the line?

Jace glances around the apartment, which isn't really that hard to do. Meliorn's place is really only one large loft, with a string of hanging plants dividing the living room and the kitchen areas. Because no one ever visits this private spot except Meliorn and whoever his current lover is, he has no sofa or sitting area, instead preferring to just keep his bed in the middle of the room, facing large, floor-to-ceiling windows which were enchanted half a century ago to repell Mundane eyes. (All of the buildings are open-plan in the Seelie Realm, and Meliorn once told Jace that he feels much more at home if he can go to sleep able to see the night sky. To be honest, Jace has come to love it as well.) Other than the door to a small bathroom in the corner, it's all here in this main room.

Well, the apartment is empty. Jace checks the clock on the wall- it's still a few minutes before Meliorn is set to return from the Seelie Realm for the afternoon. So he just sits down on the bed.

Jace has appreciated having a place to stay now that Magnus and Alec have moved to Alicante. He's far more welcomed at the Institute nowadays now that Izzy is Head and politics have shifted so much, but his old room still feels strange to him. Meliorn's bed, however, does not.

Meliorn gave him a key a month ago, telling Jace with a wink that he was welcome to come in whenever. Though it had seemed like an almost casual action for Meliorn to do, no more than a small, suggestive thought to the offer, Jace knows that Meliorn was offering more than that. To be able to have free reign to come and rest whenever he wants, to be able to use this small, personal space that Meliorn has carved out for himself in the human world- it means a lot.

No one has ever trusted Jace with something as intimate and personal as this. Just as Jace trusts Meliorn, he thinks (and is constantly shocked by the fact) that Meliorn trusts him just as much.

At 3 o' clock on the dot, Meliorn enters the house, stripping off his ceremonial robes and gilded floral crown without any sort of hesitation towards his houseguest watching him. Jace is more than happy to enjoy the view as Meliorn's clothing pares down into just a loose tunic and short pants, to watch his graceful movements.

There is a sort of old-fashioned elegance around Meliorn, no matter how modern his language or his attitude towards sex can be. At times, he seems older than Magnus, despite the fact that Magnus has a good century on Meliorn.

"So," Meliorn says, walking over to the bed with the sort of casual swagger to his step that only a King could pull off. "What brings you here so early in the day?"

Jace is almost disappointed by the fact that he's going to have to dispel the mischievous glint in Meliorn's eyes. Any other day, Jace would be more than willing to have sex with his boyfriend in the middle of the afternoon, if he had the opportunity.

Today, though, he does not. He lifts his arm, showing the bandages emerging from the cuff of his jacket. "Had a bad encounter with a demon. And I was wondering if you, ah..." Jace swallows. He's still not good with vulnerability, sometimes, even when it comes to people that he's comfortable with. He can still hear the voice of his father (well, not-father, but Valentine  _did_ raise him, so he had just as much impact on Jace's childhood and self-worth as an actual father would have had) warning against weakness, can still see that damn falcon. Jace has always been vulnerable and weak. But able to show that to people? Not so much. "Do you mind helping me with this?"

"Didn't your infirmary help with it?" Meliorn says with an arched eyebrow even as he sits down on the bed next to Jace. He gestures for Jace to pull off his leather jacket. When Jace can't help but wince as he does so, Meliorn reaches out and helps peel it off of him in order to expose the bandages for him to see.

"I came to you first," Jace says, and Meliorn's expression goes soft.

"Truly?" Meliorn asks, and Jace nods.

"First place I thought to go," Jace says, and he's not lying. He never really feels the urge to lie, not with Meliorn, who cannot himself lie. He may dance around a subject or tell teasing jokes, but when he's asked a question dead-on by Meliorn he generally answers truthfully. "You're really good with healing herbs and, you know...maybe I just wanted to see you."

Meliorn smiles, stands up from the bed, and heads over to one of the hanging plants where he plucks a few leaves down and then turns to the shelves in the corner to pluck down a curved green-glass bottle with some sort of ointment inside of it. Then he heads back to Jace. When he sits down on the bed, he sets the leaves and the bottle of ointment on top of Jace's jacket and then carefully unwraps Jace's bandages, graceful fingers brushing against the skin without aggravating the deep wounds beneath.

Jace doesn't know exactly what Meliorn's doing as he layers leaves and a small paste under Jace's bandages, but he trusts Meliorn to know what he's doing. Meliorn's skilled at so many things- healing, fighting, governing- and sometimes Jace is still so shocked that Meliorn has chosen to date  _him_ of all people, when he has such an impressive line of accomplishments and talents to his names.

Well, Jace is not the only person who is willing to take leaps of faith, who is willing to trust. "I want you to come with me to the family dinner tonight," Jace says as Meliorn finishes rewrapping the bandage. Jace can already feel the Seelie herbs and ointments kicking in, and he lets out a small sigh of relief.

Meliorn raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want the Seelie King to visit your family for an ordinary family dinner?"

Meliorn has met Jace's family before- some he's known closer than others- but not in such a significant setting as a family dinner. This is Jace opening up, him offering up an opportunity for Meliorn to see him in a not sexual or professional setting, not even in the semi-domestic setting of Meliorn's bed or kitchen, or even the romantic setting of a date, but rather to see him in the setting that he feels most comfortable in.

Jace is offering up embarrassing stories, the chance to meet his Mom, a surely loud dinner, and, most of all, this is Jace opening up the part of him that he's always guarded most intensely- his family. The importance cannot be understated- the only other person Jace has ever introduced to his family was Clary, and, well, that's what she became.

Jace offers him a tired grin. "I mean, we'll have to deal with the fact that my sister is your ex, which will lead to more awkwardness than Simon could ever achieve on his own, but other than that..."

Meliorn rolls his eyes, taking Jace's joke as the answer that it is. Jace isn't a Seelie- he can most definitely lie- but he has definitely learned how to couch truths in innuendo. "Then I can't pass up an invitation like that. When is the dinner?" 

"In a few hours," Jace answers, "After dusk, so that Raphael can be there."

"Makes sense," Meliorn says as the last bandage is tucked in. He mutters a few words under his breath and a small, soft glow settles over Jace's bandages for a quick moment before fading away. Nearly instantly the ache lessens, an alternating hot-and-cool sensation passing through the flesh around the wound. "Where will the gathering take place?"

"At Taki's- Maia's restaurant."

Meliorn smiles. "I've always liked the new Alpha of the New York Clan."

Yeah, they all do. Anyone who can make Clary smile like that Jace automatically likes, and anyone who has such a drive to accomplish so much in such a short time he can definitely admire and respect.

But in the meantime, though, before dinner- Jace is exhausted, and all he really wants to do is rest. "But..." Jace struggles for the words to say what he wants to. "That's enough time to sleep together, though."

"You wanna fuck in the middle of the afternoon?" Meliorn asks with a half-suggestive, half-concerned smile. "As much as I'd love to, I don't think, with your injury, that would be a good idea-"

"No," Jace says, nearly face-palming at the obvious innuendo that he somehow missed. He must be more tired than he thinks he is. "Just a nap. I'm exhausted."

Meliorn's expression goes soft and somewhat fond again. "I think that can be arranged."

Jace leans in and presses a gentle kiss to Meliorn's lips- one of those kisses that is rare, normally snatched in the quiet moments right after waking in the morning, nothing like their usual passionate kisses. "Thank you," Jace says, and he means so much beyond just a thank you for a nap or the help with his hand, but he doesn't think he could put everything he's feeling into words.

Meliorn smiles at him, that familiar twinkle in his eyes. "My pleasure," he says as the two of them lay back on the bed, and Jace has the feeling he's saying something more as well.

Jace curls into Meliorn's side and lays his head against Meliorn's shoulder, then closes his eyes. He is comfortable and safe here, with his boyfriend. He is not afraid to be vulnerable, to be weak, to show that side of himself that his father always tried to warn against. 

(He is  _happy_ , here.)

Jace falls asleep to the soothing sensation of Meliorn carding his fingers through Jace's hair.

 

 

**MELIORN**

Meliorn can feel the moment that Jace's breath levels out and he falls fully into sleep, his body relaxing against Meliorn's in bed. It kind of blows Meliorn away that Jace, consummate surly Shadowhunter, can be so easily vulnerable with him- and that he has been able to for at least a couple of months now. 

Curling up on the bed next to Jace, he knows the kind of fondness that Magnus felt for Alec Lightwood, back during those early Downworlder Councils when Meliorn had warned his fellow ambassadors about clouded judgement. Meliorn's soft for this particular Shadowhunter, he knows.  _Very_ soft. Dangerously soft. 

For the past few months, Meliorn's Seelie Council has been pressuring him with questions about when he'll take his first Consort. And more and more, his mind has drifted to Jace Herondale of all people.

Two years ago, he never would have anticipated such a thing. The blond, stubborn ass of a Shadowhunter had nothing in him that endeared him to Meliorn, no sense of maturity or responsibility. Even at the time of Magnus and Alec's wedding, Meliorn had his doubts.

To be completely honest, Meliorn wasn't expecting this relationship to last as long as it had, not from what he had known of Jace Wayland. It had started off as friends with benefits, just acquaintances falling into bed together after a quest to hell and then eventually deciding to keep sometimes sleeping together after it had turned out that the sex had been pretty good. Jace was good in bed- that was for certain. Despite Meliorn being the first man he’s actually been with, he _knows_ how to treat a lover. He’s not as good as Meliorn is, but he’s certainly impressive giving his inexperience with the male form.

But beyond that, beyond being a good lover in bed- Meliorn had doubted Jace would hold his care for much longer than that. Meliorn has had many lovers over the centuries- he knows what he looks for in a partner and Jace, by reputation, was decidedly not that. After all, Jace was infamous for his lack of care for rules and traditions, for politics and courtesy. He was a good warrior and a decent lover, but beyond that- well, it looked very unlikely that he had the maturity Meliorn desired in a long-term exclusive commitment.

But then Jace Herondale, once Wayland, had done something that very few ever have- he had  _surprised_ Meliorn.

Jace had become the New York Institute's Ambassador to the Seelies, and suddenly Meliorn had seen a different side of him, a more mature and responsible side. He had proven himself as more than just a particularly reckless Shadowhunter, shown that he really has grown over the past couple of years. He'd become more vulnerable and open about his feelings, become more willing to listen to others.

And about seven months after the wedding, Jace and Meliorn had officially started dating.  
  
Over the past few months, Jace Herondale has shown even more of that intimate side of himself. After rounds of sex, he's curled up with Meliorn in bed and told him stories about what it was like to grow up under Valentine's hand, stories about falcons and his distrust in love. He's shown Meliorn his skills on the piano and his love of musicals, interests that were both heavily discouraged under the Clave.

Jace Herondale has trusted Meliorn with his vulnerability, has taken the time to get to know Meliorn and his Seelie background, has known Meliorn at the point of a spear and yet consented to be weak. He came to Meliorn after being injured today.

And to Meliorn, that says something. That says a  _lot_ , really, about how much Jace is not a typical Shadowhunter, how he is willing to grow and reach out and put his heart in the hands of a Downworlder.

Jace lets out a soft snore against Meliorn's shoulder and he smiles into Jace's hair. He wants to be with this stupidly wonderful Nephilim, who comes to him for help and asks him questions about his people and kisses him like the world's ending.

As for the logistics of taking him as a Consort, well-

The issue of taking a mortal consort is a near non-existent one. There is a bit of a precedent, after all- Ariatta, the former Seelie Queen, once took a werewolf consort in the 1600s. The shadowhunter bit, though- well, that definitely would have been a problem in the past, but with both the current state and Jace's hand in it, Meliorn doesn't think it will be an issue. Under the current political climate, the difference between species is becoming just a difference in magical ablities, not so much a social imbalance.

There are traditional Trials that must be completed to become a Seelie consort, trials both physical and emotional, but Meliorn thinks that Jace could complete them. He has gotten to know Jace well beyond that initial impression, has come to know how he has both changed and what he was hiding all along.

Yeah, Meliorn's pretty sure he's going to ask the question. Perhaps even tonight, at the Lightwood-Fray-Lewis-Greymark (okay, this family has  _way_ too many last names) family dinner.

But first, a nap would be wonderful.


	3. we've fallen but we still we trust the sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title is from "Nomads" by Fleurie, which played when Simon and Izzy kissed in 3x21.
> 
> So, to be honest, I didn't really pay attention to a lot of the plot of early Season 3 and thus I can't remember much about it. So I think I heard something about Simon and his sister talking, but to be honest, as far as I'm aware his family still thinks he's dead and that's that. So we're gonna go with that for backstory for this chapter, because to be honest it works for the characterization I've always seen for Simon- that him making the selfless choice takes a little while, but that it is always inevitable.
> 
> (Also, this chapter is still happy, I promise! This is just a small detail.)

_We enter a restaurant and find a rather strange group arrayed before us. A family, loud and enthusiastic, occupies the table in the corner. At the head of the table sits a mundane woman and her werewolf fiance, who are waiting until the end of the dinner to announce their engagement. The owner of the restaurant actually sits among the bustle, hand in hand with her red-haired Shadowhunter girlfriend. They're comparing notes about their days and they're so close together that they're practically sitting in each other's laps. And no surprise- this is the first moment they’ve gotten to see each other today. The High Warlock of Alicante sits to the right of the mundane woman, a ring glinting on his hand. His husband, the High Inquisitor himself, sits on his other side, and the two of them are discussing the newest politics in Alicante. The Head of the New York Institute is sitting next to the High Inquisitor. The Head's hair is finally down after being held up in a ponytail all day. The two men sitting on her other side drink glasses of blood, and as one of them lifts his glass to his lips she leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek._

_These three have had quite the interesting journey to get here. Let's follow them here._

 

 

**RAPHAEL**

 

If there's one thing that Raphael has known since even before Magnus and Alec's wedding, it's that both he and Izzy love Simon. That's one fact that's always been entirely too clear. The way they both smile so fondly at him, nothing but warmth in their gazes, the way they listen to him when everyone else has (wrongly) dismissed his opinions as just "nerdy," the way they will protect and defend him to the ends of the earth- well, it's always been obvious their depth of feelings for the fledgling vampire.

Izzy and Raphael's relationship with each other, though- that's definitely taken some work. 

Raphael and Izzy had a connection, once. Izzy was the first person who ever told Raphael that sex wasn't necessary, that what they had was  _more_ than a sexual relationship could ever give her. She'd been the first person he'd seriously gotten into a relationship with since before he'd been Turned. They had had such promise before addiction and manipulation and, well,  _everything_ tore apart what shaky but beautiful foundation they'd managed to build.

When he and Izzy both started dating Simon a few weeks before Magnus' wedding, it had been with all of that strained history between them but  _also_ with a shared understanding of how much they both cared about their shared boyfriend. So they had set aside their issues in order to date the boy they both cared about, and in the meantime, well, they'd tried to find a way to at least get along, maybe even learn to trust each other again.

And they'd done it. It has been hard, at times, but they got through it. Through dating Simon they rediscovered each other, taking a few months to learn to trust each other again. Izzy becoming Head of the Institute under the new political system had certainly done a lot, as she'd proven her dedication to the vampires and the Downworld at large by championing them among other Shadowhunters, working tirelessly to earn them their rights. There had been many a night when Raphael had entered his office to find Izzy asleep in the armchair with Simon, her head pillowed against his shoulder and her outfit from the day running the Institute wrinkling a little against Simon's hoodie.

Eventually, Izzy and Raphael had rediscovered the connection that once had Izzy saying that what they had was bigger than what sex could have given her. The three of them have been together- all of them together, all dating each other- for about eight months, now. 

Which leads to now, with Izzy asleep in the armchair in Raphael's office.

Izzy, due to her job, can function on only a somewhat nocturnal schedule. Raphael understands that, and when she visits the Hotel Dumort to have an evening meal with them (it's dinner for her, breakfast for Raphael, and lunch for Simon due to their terraced schedules), he understands the fact that she drops off into sleep a few hours after eating. Sometimes it's in Simon or Raphael's bed, but on the days where she's worked herself to the bone, she falls asleep in the armchair in the corner of his office.

In a few hours, whenever Simon heads to bed, he'll end up moving her as gently as possible, but for now, Raphael's the one who drapes a blanket over her shoulders with a small smile.

"You love her, don't you?" Simon asks, hugging Raphael from the back.

"'Love' is a strong word," Raphael says even as he smiles as Simon tucks his chin over Raphael's back into the crook of his shoulder.

"But I'm right," Simon says, in that unconsciously smug way he gets sometimes, and Raphael can't quite argue.

Raphael can't help but think of Clary's bonding rune, kept a closely guarded secret by her family. The only reason Raphael even knows about it is because both Simon and Izzy are close to Clary and Alec, respectively, and they told him about it.

(That's something that Izzy and Raphael are making sure goes right, this time around. They're dedicated to communicating, to making certain that manipulation and jealousy and miscommunication aren't a part of their relationship with each other and Simon. Neither of them wants a repeat of the last relationship's ending.

As a result, Raphael came out to Izzy and Simon very early on, explaining how he felt about sex and everything. It went really well, with them understanding and respecting his boundaries. The three of them discussed the place that sex would or wouldn't have in their relationship and what it meant.

Simon and Izzy had offered not to have sex with each other, as they didn't want to imbalance the relationship, and Raphael's heart had warmed. No one else had ever offered something like that to him. No one else had ever deigned to give up anything they wanted for his sake, not like this.

Though the sentiment was appreciated, he didn't ask them to give sex up. Raphael isn’t really jealous of his partners having sex- he knows each pair within their relationship has something in common that the other person doesn’t. He and Simon are both vampires who drink blood to survive; Izzy and Simon aren’t asexual; Izzy and Raphael have spent the vast majority of their lives in the Shadow World. 

Communication and balance are key, here. Keeping this relationship working  _matters_ to Raphael. He wants his partners to be happy, and them having sex does such a thing. Being in a relationship is meant to bring out the best in people, to make them happy. As long as they talk through boundaries and everything, he has absolutely no problem with the things they do on their own.)

Raphael thinks about what the rune could mean for Izzy, what it could grant her. He wonders if she'd be willing to become immortal with them, to share her lifespan with theirs.

He's pretty sure that it's too early in their relationship to ask her about it, but it is something to think about- because Simon's right. Raphael does love Izzy. He does love Simon. 

Raphael has few people he considers his own. There are few people he opens his heart to, and even fewer people he allows back in.

It took awhile to recover from the ways that Izzy and Simon betrayed his trust, but it happened. They proved themselves as trustworthy to Raphael, put his feelings about the word of the Clave and their own impulses. They promised him that they wouldn't betray him again and they didn't. Izzy has defended him and his interests to the rest of the Shadow World, and Simon has spent every day with him, choosing the Hotel over the Nephilim World.

Raphael has spent so long alone. He doesn't want to be anymore.

Raphael wouldn't be opposed to spending the rest of his life, however long it may end up, being with these two people, bright and beautiful and brilliant as they are.

" _Si_ , you are," Raphael admits, shifting just slightly to accommodate Simon's shoulder a little better. He knows he has to get back to work, but he's content spending a few more moments here with his boyfriend. Simon's weight against his back is a comforting one, a welcome one.

"Aww," Simon coos, "You're admitting it, you big softie."

Raphael's spine straightens a little. "I'm not a softie."

"Yes you are," Simon says, "Just admit it. You're the one who drapes the blanket every time Izzy falls asleep in here, you're the one who lends your precious suits to me whenever I need one, you're the one who buys flowers at five in the morning and then leaves them on the bedside table sometimes."

And that's the thing- Simon and Izzy are the only two people Raphael has ever been "soft" with before. Even with Magnus, the man he trusts as the closest Raphael has ever come to a father figure, Raphael has maintained a level of wall between them. But with Simon and Izzy- well, despite the reputation Raphael might like to uphold, Simon's right. He  _is_ soft, if only for these two.

"If only for you two,  _mi corazon_ ," Raphael says, and he can hear the fondness in his own voice, so unfamiliar to his own ears, and it makes him smile.

Raphael's not alone anymore. And he won't be again for a very long time.

 

****

 

**IZZY**

 

Izzy wakes up in Simon's bed at the Hotel Dumort an hour before sunrise. Simon is curled up next to her, fast asleep, and Raphael is not in bed with them. He's probably still in his office working, which isn't so strange. Some nights Raphael doesn't fall asleep until even after sunrise (the blackout curtains in the Hotel Dumort definitely do their job).

Well, that just means that Izzy's going to have to find her other boyfriend before she leaves the Hotel for work in order to say goodbye for the day.

She gets changed from the pjs she keeps in her own two-drawer bedside dresser here into more appropriate work clothing- a dark purple button down with a low neckline, a pair of slim-fit black pants, and her favorite pair of heeled black leather boots. Nothing too modest, but nothing too revealing either, both badass and business-like- the perfect outfit for a Head of the Institute.

There's a note on her bedside dresser and one on the coffemaker (a gift for her birthday from Simon, who certainly can't use it himself) on the corner table as well, both love notes from Simon. As Izzy ties up her hair into a ponytail, she reads the notes and smiles. That Simon took the time to leave those for her- she can't express just how fond she is of the young vampire.

Once her hair is up and a cup of coffee nearly brewed, she bends down writes a quick note in response to one of Simon's. She's not as flowery in her words as Simon is- she certainly uses a lot less pop culture references- but she thinks she gets across her point rather well. She loves Simon and wants to thank him for thinking of her before her fell asleep.

Then Izzy presses a gentle kiss to Simon's hair before she leaves. He snuggles his face in close to her lips even in unconsciousness, and she can't help but halt for just a moment, smiling softly at her boyfriend. Simon is one of the most adorable men she's ever met. Sure, he can be dead sexy at times, but she likes him when he's like this as well- soft and cute and affectionate.

But she does have work to get to, and another boyfriend to say goodbye to in the meantime. She picks up her cup of coffee and leaves the room, careful to be quiet when shutting the door, and heads to Raphael's office, where she's sure he's still working. To no surprise she finds him bent over some paperwork for the negotiation of blood stores with the clan in New Jersey.

Izzy doesn't want to distract him too much, but she does want to say goodbye. So she steps into the room and walks to Raphael, who looks up from his paperwork and up at her.

"Heading out for the day?" Raphael asks as she reaches his desk, and she nods.

"And you need to make sure to get some sleep," Izzy says when she notices the slightly red rim around his eyes- a clear sign of exhaustion, whether on a human or a vampire. 

Raphael smiles that casually self-confident smile that Simon could never pull off. "I can take care of myself, no need to mother me."

Izzy doesn't comment on the fact that Raphael making a joke about "mothering" definitely shows some progress from the fact that he could barely speak the word in casual conversation a year ago. There are some things that don't need to be prodded at, especially this early in the morning.

"No, we've both got Simon to worry about us like that," Izzy says, and Raphael's expression softens just a little at the thought of their boyfriend, who is still asleep in bed.

" _Si_ , we do," Raphael says, and Izzy leans in a little for a kiss. Raphael is all too happy to oblige, leaning in to press his lips to hers, and it takes a few moments before they part.

"Get to work, Shadowhunter," he says, managing to make her job title sound like a teasing joke.

"Get to sleep, vampire," she says in turn, a smile flickering across her face as she heads for the door.

"See you this evening, _mi amor_ ," Raphael calls out over her turned shoulder as Izzy reaches the door, and she glances back just to give him a wide smile.

"See you this evening,  _querido_ ," she replies, then heads out.

- 

Izzy's current job is rather stressful and exhausting, but by the Angel is it rewarding. 

The New York Institute is one of the best performing Institutes under the new political climate, not in short part to the amount of work that Izzy has been putting in the rework the Institute's procedures and traditions to better suit working  _with_ the Down World. She has been working with Shadowhunter and Downworlder alike, pushing longer hours than she ever did in just simple Shadowhunter capacity in order to get things right. She has a responsibility that she is doing everything she can to accomplish.

And for what she can't handle herself, well, Izzy's good at delegating. She knows who has the skills needed to accomplish the new goals of the Institute.

The Ambassador positions that Alec created- she chose them carefully, intending them to have the greatest possible benefit to the communities they are meant to serve. All of the Institute's Ambassadors have a vested interest and a very, well, hands-on view of what's happening in their respective Downworld factions. Underhill with the Warlocks, Clary with the werewolves, Jace with the Seelies, and Izzy herself with the vampires. Through their love and passion for their partners, they have each developed a healthy level of respect and love for the traditions, cultures, and members of their partners' species.

Speaking of which- she has meetings with both Clary and Underhill this afternoon, after lunch with Simon. Jace was here yesterday promoting the interests of the Seelies (and Izzy totally saw the way that her brother's scowl grew soft every time he mentioned the "Seelie King," but she was professional and didn't say a word), and Izzy wrote her own reports to file last night, so today is her other two Ambassador's turns.

Well, it shouldn't be  _too_ stressful. She happens to like both Clary and Underhill, both as Ambassadors and friends. They both know when to be professional and when to be friendly, and how to push the interests of their respective Downworlder factions without getting too heated.

Still, it will definitely be nice to have lunch with her boyfriend, first.

-

Simon drops by for lunch with a welcoming smile on his face, and Izzy can't help but return his happiness despite how long her afternoon is set to be. Seeing either of her boyfriends is always a gift, no matter how commonplace it's become.

Lunch with Simon lasts about forty-five minutes, and every minute is great. Simon begins the meal with a prayer and then pulls out a bottle of blood for his breakfast.

(Izzy has nothing but respect for the fact that Simon and Raphael begin every meal with a prayer, despite the fact that the holy words burn their lips. Their strength of faith, to push through that pain because they're so dedicated to an ideal- it's something she understands intimately, if not in exactly the divine faith sort of way that they engage in. It's the same kind of dedication that she gives to her duties here at the Institute.)

As they eat and talk, both listening to the other's experiences from the day (Izzy talks about the missions she sent some Shadowhunters on this morning, including Jace, while Simon tells a funny story about a woman at the cafe he picks up her lunch from), Izzy doesn't blink at the fact that there is blood on her boyfriend's lips and teeth whenever he smiles or opens his mouth to speak. She's definitely gotten used to such a sight, having been dating two vampires for months now.

Simon ends up leaving about fifteen minutes before Underhill is set to come for his meeting as an ambassador, heading out for his shift working at Taki's. As much as Izzy would love to spend the rest of the afternoon with him, she's grateful. She needs time to get ready paperwork for Underhill regarding the economic regulations she'd asked him to discuss with Lorenzo and the other warlocks as well as the paperwork regarding the pack disputes Clary was looking into.

Despite the amount of work facing her, Izzy can't help but smile, just a little. She's so proud of what they're doing- no matter how stressful it all is, it's totally worth it.

-

When Clary leaves the room, saying that she's going to text Maia about the day shift at the restaurant, Izzy smiles and leans back in her chair.

She's glad to see that so many Shadowhunter-Downworlder relationships are working out so well. Clary and Maia, Underhill and Lorenzo Rey earlier, her and her two boyfriends- it's all such beautiful progress compared to where they came from.

She looks to the framed photo on the corner of her desk, the one they took at the wedding: her whole family- Alec, Jace, Mom, Max, Magnus, and even Dad- posing together, smiles wide. Her brother's hand is on Magnus' shoulder, his wedding ring gleaming in the dance lights.

Her older brother really is an inspiration, not only to the Shadow World at large, but to Izzy herself.

Izzy was always dating and fucking Downworlders, but the idea that her life-long partner (or partner _s_ , as the case now seems to be) could be Downworlders- well, that had never come into her brain. She knew that someday, she'd fall in love (hopefully) with another Shadowhunter, get married, and have Shadowhunter babies to continue whatever line she married into. She wouldn't be a Lightwood anymore- she'd be something else, something probably as respectable as her family's name had been before her parents got involved with the Circle.

But after Alec and Magnus- well, anything is possible now. She can fall in love with Downworlders- _two_ at a time, as a matter of fact. She can spend the rest of her life with Simon and Raphael, keep her position as Head of the Institute, and be happy all the while.

(Dating two boys at once was never something that she anticipated. Growing up, she'd been taught that it was one man and one woman, one Shadowhunter with another.

Shadowhunters fall in love once, she's always known. But with two people at once? That's something that came as a bit of a surprise. A very _welcome_ surprise, she has to admit. The most wonderful possible surprise in the world. Because Izzy doesn't think she's ever been this happy before.)

It's a dream she's so glad has become a reality.

 

 

 

 **SIMON**  

 

Nowadays, Simon tends to go to sleep at around 4-5 in the morning and wake up around eleven, enough time to kiss Raphael's sleeping face, get changed, and run out to grab lunch for Izzy and breakfast for Simon himself. He and Izzy share a midday meal in between her meetings, then they part with a kiss and he heads to Taki's, where he's Maia's live entertainment for the afternoon and into the evening, until the evening's meal at the Hotel Dumort is set to begin after sunset.

Speaking of which- he has to get going to Taki's. As much as he loves spending time with his girlfriend (and he really does, with all his heart), he  _does_ have a job to do. It may not be the head of an Institute or a Clan, but it is important to him.

Simon's not built to be leadership material, like Izzy and Raphael are. He's not a soldier or a politician, not meant to have the weight of the fate of so many people on his shoulders. He's a nerd and a musician and his pursuits in life are a lot less world-changing than Izzy and Raphael's are.

(And his girlfriend and boyfriend love him for all of this.)

After giving Izzy a hug and a kiss goodbye after they finish lunch, Simon walks the twelve blocks from the Institute to Taki's, his guitar case strapped to his back. The sunlight beats down on him as he walks, and to this day it's still a somewhat strange sensation to rationalize.

The sun's rays are warm against his skin, but he knows that they'll never burn him again. He won't even get a tan, much less a sunburn. For any other vampire- for Simon's boyfriend- this warmth would be the kiss of death. But for him, it's not.

He's one of a kind, and not in the way he dreamed of as a kid. He's a bit of a freak of nature, something that has never existed before, and it wasn't because he wrote an original song but because his blood is incredibly fucked up inside of him. If he didn't have support, it would be easy to think of himself as something monstrous and grotesque for being such a freak.

But no one he loves cares about his one-of-a-kind status. They don't really view him as that strange for being a Daylighter, for having to drink blood with Raphael yet being able to walk around in the middle of the day to visit with Izzy. Instead they treat his Daylighter status as just another character trait of his, like his love of comics or his skill with a guitar, and treat his strange sleep schedule as a pretty normal one, just like that of a college student.

Simon really does appreciate it, because it means that he can walk through the streets like now without feeling any guilt or loneliness. Instead he can just enjoy the warmth against his skin, the crowds and noise of New York City in the middle of the day.

- 

Before he does his set for the day, Simon knows that he's going to have to run his newest original song by Maia. She  _is_ the owner and manager of the restaurant, of course, and he can't exactly play new songs without her permission.

"It's a love song I wrote," Simon says, "But it's a little bit creepy, not gonna lie."

Maia laughs. "Simon, we're Downworlders. We live in creepy. As long as it's not about stalking or anything remotely, well, Jordan-esque."

Simon doesn't take offense to the comment- he understands how the vague word "creepy" could translate as bordering on "Jordan-esque." "You'd have me flat on my ass in a second if I did something like that," Simon says with a teasing smile.

Maia grins. "You bet it, Si."

"But no, it's not. It's about, you know, more vampire-ish stuff."

"Then carry on, Tim Burton," Maia says, patting him on the back. "I trust you and your judgement. You get to do whatever you want with your set, as long as you don't strip naked on my stage or somehow drive away customers."

Simon swallows. "No pressure," he says, and Maia smirks.

"No pressure," she says, then leaves and heads back to her place at the bar, where she tends to manage the restaurant for.

So Simon heads up to the stage, where he plays through the usual first two-thirds of his set, mostly cover songs with a few originals thrown in. The regulars recognize the originals by now, with Gary (a werewolf with a love for jazz who shows up here every day at 2:15 for his lunch break from the GameStop down the street) even cheering at "Fragile World," the first song he performed here at Taki's.

Then Simon comes up on his new song, and he's not too nervous. His long-ago stage fright is gone after six months of being Taki's live entertainment. Instead he just focuses on the two people he first wrote the song for, the woman who's currently running the Institute and the man who is asleep in Simon's bed right now. Neither of them are anywhere near Taki's right now, but this song _is_ for them. 

 

_Boys workin' on empty_

_Is that the kind'a way to face the burning heat?_

_I just think about my baby_

_I'm so full of love I could barely eat_

_There's nothing sweeter than my baby_

_I'd never want once from the cherry tree_

_'Cause my baby's sweet as can be_

_They give me toothaches just from kissin' me_  

 

_When my time comes around_

_Lay me gently in the cold dark earth_

_No grave can hold my body down_

_I'll crawl home to them_

Simon spent the greater part of the first few months after Magnus and Alec's wedding wondering what he managed to do to get two of the most attractive, wonderful, beautiful people he's ever met to actually  _like_ him.

Simon spent ages eleven to eighteen pining after his best friend and getting nothing in return. When he'd finally- _finally_ \- realized that Clary wasn't the girl for him, that he had a crush on two other people instead- well, he'd been convinced that he would never have his affections reciprocated. 

Simon has been the most unsure about his place in their relationship, he knows. Izzy's absolutely fantastic in a relationship- she's got tons of experience- and while Raphael is rather inexperienced, just like Simon, he has much more self-confidence in himself. He's had nearly a century to figure out who he is, to understand what he wants and what he doesn't want. Raphael, once they'd all gotten together, had been completely at ease with their relationship and how they'd all worked everything out.

But Simon? He'd never had anyone who he liked like him back. Clary always liked someone else before she liked him, and even dating him felt like an afterthought after her first choice became unavailable. He was never the first chosen, the first liked.

Izzy and Raphael had dated each other before they ever dated him. Though the most recent form of their relationship had formed with Simon in the middle, he had a few moments in the first few months of their relationship when he'd doubted whether he was just the rebound of he had actually been chosen by them.

Dating Clary was a mistake, but one that had to be made for Simon to understand what he  _wasn't_ looking for. They broke up, she got back together with Jace, and Simon was left with a mess of feelings in his stomach and no idea what to do with them.

In the mean time, though, Izzy and Raphael were dating. They were falling in love, before everything imploded, before Yin-Fen took over everything, and he had to watch for a few weeks as everything fell apart between them. He hadn't known how to feel at the time, whether to be sorry or jealous or happy or pitying.

Truth is, he liked Raphael nearly from the beginning. Same with Izzy. He's always known he was pan, but these two, how they introduced him to the Shadow World in their own ways, how they taught him and helped him and protected him-

Well, he was figuring out his mess of feelings regarding Clary at the time, but is it any wonder that he fell in love with them? Is it any wonder that these two people, above all else, were the ones to show him what it meant to actually romantically love someone, not just some misunderstood platonic love? 

_Boys when my babies found me_

_I was three days on a drunken sin_

_I woke with their walls around me_

_Nothin' in the room but an empty crib_

_And I was burnin' up a fever_

_I didn't care much how long I lived_

_But I swear I thought I dreamed them_

_They never asked me once about the wrong I did_  

And then he'd confessed his feelings to them, a few weeks before the trip to Edom, and they'd both admitted that they actually _liked him back_. 

At first, it had been just Simon with a boyfriend and a girlfriend who weren't dating each other, but only him. And shit had that been something hard to process at times, in those first few weeks. The idea that not only someone reciprocated his feelings, but  _two_ people reciprocated him, chose him first-

Well, Simon had a hard time understanding and processing that. After a lifetime of being second best, suddenly two people liked him first. They chose  _him._ Two people chose him before they chose anyone else. Izzy and Raphael kept showing him how they felt about him, how much they cared about him, how much they  _wanted_ him.

Simon's self-esteem really needed that. He needed to understand that he was wanted. He needed to know that he wasn't alone in the Shadow World, that these two people would stick by his side and choose  _him_.

And by the time that all three of them had ended up in a relationship together, after Izzy and Raphael had finally worked their issues out, Simon believed in himself. Though at times he felt uncertain, Izzy and Raphael were both really good at reminding him that he was chosen.

And in turn, Simon shows that he loves them in turn. He helps Raphael with running the clan, does paperwork and advising, and he in turn advises Izzy and helps her with paperwork as well so that she can balance her roles as Head of the Institute and Ambassador. He takes her lunch and shares information about vampire interests, sets up the coffee machine in the mornings before he falls asleep. He leaves love notes for both of his partners all the time, writes them both music, supports them as much as he can.

Simon is in love with the man who saved his life and helped him out of a grave, in love with a woman who saved him from demons with her whip. He is in love with two people who love him back and love each other in turn, and he's never been happier.

 

_When my time comes around_

_Lay me gently in the cold dark earth_

_No grave can hold my body down_

_I'll crawl home to her_

 

_When my time comes around_

_Lay me gently in the cold dark earth_

_No grave can hold my body down_

_I'll crawl home to him_

Simon was still so new to the Shadow World when he admitted to both Izzy and Raphael how he felt about them.

Now, though, a year later- he's a lot more comfortable with himself and his place in the Shadow World. He has a job here in the Shadow World, sleeps in the Hotel Dumort most nights with his girlfriend and boyfriend by his side (the only nights he doesn't are when he and Izzy decide to spend a night at the boathouse to have sex, which really feel no different than the occasional nights where Raphael and Simon cuddle in his bed while Izzy sleeps at the Institute or the nights where Raphael and Izzy fall asleep together at the Hotel when Simon visits Clary's), and all of his family, now, are part of the Shadow World.

It's a lot easier to be sure in his relationship than he was when they first started. A year of working together, sleeping together (both cuddling, actually sleeping, and having sex, in the case of Izzy and Simon), eating and loving together- that has made him a lot more confident, in both his relationship and in himself.

This song, which he wrote for them- it shows how much he loves and appreciates them, how much he wants to stay with them and support them.

(A lot of his music lately has been love songs, written for the two of them. Simon's not that shocked anymore.)

_My babies never fret none_

_About what my hands and my body done_

_If the lord don't forgive me_

_I'd still have my babies and my babes would have me_

_When I was kissing on my babies_

_And they put their love down soft and sweet_

_In the lowland plot I was free_

_Heaven and hell were words to me_

 

_When my time comes around_

_Lay me gently in the cold dark earth_

_No grave can hold my body down_

_I'll crawl home to them_  

-

Tonight is a family dinner, so Simon only performs a few more covers after that before stopping performing and taking his leave. Normally he spends more time at the mic and then chats with the staff a bit, but he's got to go pick up his girlfriend and boyfriend for family dinner.

Family dinner- it's still such a strange concept, sometimes.

He misses his Mom, sometimes. He hasn't seen her since the hectic weeks after he turned, when he ended up letting her and Becca believe that he was dead. And he will always mourn that lost relationship. He will always miss his mom and her  _latkes_ and her bright smile and her hugs.

But he  _does_ have another family, now. He has Izzy and Raphael, first of all, but he also has Clary as his best friend and Luke and Maryse as psuedo-parental figures and even Jace and Alec and Max as siblings. And it's not the same, but he still loves it.

But he does have to get ready for dinner, so he finishes up and packs up his guitar so that he can head out. He's leaving just after dusk to go wake Raphael up and pick up Izzy as well so they can be back here

Maia walks up to him, though. "Good song, tonight. It  _was_ a bit creepy, but it was honestly pretty beautiful as well."

Simon grins as he packs up his guitar. "Really?"

Maia nods. "I can really tell what those two mean to you."

"As if you didn't before?" Simon asks, and Maia rolls her eyes.

"Go pick up Padme and Obi-Wan."

Simon's used to the running joke about Maia's ship of ObiAniDala in the prequel trilogy. "We'll meet you and Rey back here in an hour or so. Family dinner, after all."

The corners of Maia's eyes crinkle with happiness. "See you tonight, Ani."

"Of course, Ms. Pava," he says, and exits the restaurant to get his boyfriend and girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I low-key use one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists as a song for Simon to sing? Why yes, yes I did. The song Simon sings is "Work Song" by Hozier and it's absolutely gorgeous. Some pronoun changes were made for the sake of its use in this story, but otherwise it's the same. Hope it worked for you guys!


	4. forever i'm yours (forever i do)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title is from "I Get To Love You" by Ruelle, which is the song that played during the wedding scene in 3x22.
> 
> Did we ever get an actual age for the Lightwoods in the show? I don't think we did. Therefore, for the purposes of this story, Alec is 23, Jace is 21, and Izzy 20. Because it makes a decent amount of sense.
> 
> (Also wait a minute I looked it up and he IS 23? Really? AWESOME!)
> 
> Also, featuring the return of my favorite minor character in all of Shadowhunters, my girl Lydia Branwell. Because I love her and I can really see her returning in such a way as I wrote in this chapter.

_We enter a restaurant and find a rather strange group arrayed before us. A family, loud and enthusiastic, occupies the table in the corner. At the head of the table sits a mundane woman and her werewolf fiance, who are waiting until the end of the dinner to announce their engagement. The owner of the restaurant actually sits among the bustle, hand in hand with her red-haired Shadowhunter girlfriend. They're comparing notes about their days and they're so close together that they're practically sitting in each other's laps. And no surprise- this is the first moment they’ve gotten to see each other today. The High Warlock of Alicante sits to the right of the mundane woman, a ring glinting on his hand. His husband, the High Inquisitor himself, sits on his other side, and the two of them are discussing the newest politics in Alicante._

_Their wedding was what started a number of these couples together. How are they holding up, a year later?_

 

 

 

**ALEC**

 

Being voted High Inquisitor by the majority of the Institutes remaining after Jonathan's killing spree was honestly an utter shock to Alec. Never in a million years had he expected to become High Inquisitor at age twenty-three, only two weeks after getting married to a male Downworlder.

Alec has never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Instead he took the appointment as a sign of a desire for change within the Nephilim community, a desire to change what the Clave had fucked up.

So Alec took the role and seized it for everything that it was worth, instituting all the reforms he possibly could. First he began with summoning a Council of Downworlders and Nephilim to rewrite the Accords, where he fought hard and well for the establishment of Ambassadors in every Institute throughout the world. 

Once he'd succeeded, he'd gotten to choose the Ambassadors for Alicante itself. Alicante's Ambassadors have been specifically chosen by Alec, but not for the same reasons as most Heads of Institutes have chosen their Ambassadors. After all, Alicante's Ambassadors weren't just Ambassadors to the Downworlder factions in the area- they were the Ambassadors to each worldwide Downworlder faction. They have to represent all nephilim to all of their respective Downworlder factions.

Thus, Alicante's Ambassadors have to be politically appropriate but still guaranteed to do their jobs with the utmost dedication. They can't be people with deep, personal ties to their Downworld factions, like Izzy chose for hers, because then they would be railed against by the ancient nephilim lines for "conflict of interest," but they also can't be people who are completely loyal to the Clave either. Alec needs people who want to make a difference, who can respect and fight for their respective Downworlder factions.

Alec took these job appointments seriously. These are the first of their kind- how these people perform will carry a major legacy to them. If these people fail, then that will set back Shadowhunter-Downworld relations again.

(And he can _not_ afford that.)

So Alec spent an entire month reading through applications, conducting interviews, and determining the best possible candidates. There had been many late nights when he'd been fighting to stay awake in order to read everything through. Alec had been so incredibly thankful for Magnus' help those late nights, when Magnus had summoned coffee and stayed up with Alec and helped read through all of the extra witness accounts and testimony in order to provide smaller summaries for Alec to read.

At the last possible step, once he'd determined finalists for the positions, he'd summoned them all to Alicante, as well as representatives from each of the Downworld factions. He'd asked the representatives from the Downworld factions to pick between each of the two candidates he'd presented each faction with, choosing which person they felt more comfortable working with.

And at the end of the day, Alec had four Downworld Ambassadors for Alicante. For the Seelies: Akita Nao, a rather young Shadowhunter from the Tokyo Institute famous for his skill with throwing stars and his pursuit of knowledge of Seelie culture, having unearthed long-buried artifacts and treaties regarding Seelie culture buried around the Tokyo Institute. For the werewolves: Ekwefi Sikafuo, from the Bamako Institute, an older woman approaching her late forties who is known for resolving numerous pack disputes around her city without once using threats or weapons. For the vampires: Alejandro Montoya-Velasquez, a Shadowhunter whose family have always been good allies of the Clave yet who has made a name for himself for being the first Head of Security in modern history to make a formal standing invitation for the vampires to enter the common areas of an Institute. 

And for the Warlocks, well...

Lydia Branwell, formerly of the Alicante Institute.

That one had certainly been a shock. Alec had shortlisted her for the position, but with her previous ties to the Clave, he hadn't believed that the warlocks would ultimately choose her, not with the way their ill-fated wedding ended.

But then Magnus himself had endorsed her to the representatives from the Warlocks, and his status as High Warlock of Alicante- the first of such a title- had held a lot of sway over the decision.

(When Alec had gaped at his announcement, thinking that there may have been too much bad blood between the two of them, Magnus had just smiled.

"She's good at what she does," Magnus said, "She shares a number of your best qualities as a leader- your drive, your rational thought process, your ability to bend the rules to your own whims without blatantly offending anybody. She has a good hand for diplomacy. She's trying her best and she's determined to do her absolute best to help my community. I sat down with her and had a long conversation about everything between us before giving my approval, as well. She bears no grudges for what happened, and she actually respects you for everything you've done. I very much believe in her ability to serve my community well."

Magnus's smile had been rather proud, and Alec hadn't been able to resist smiling in turn. Being able to make his husband proud has quickly become his favorite thing in life.)

For now, though, it seems as if his appointments have been progressing rather well. Meliorn and Nao, despite a bit of a cautious start, get along like a house on fire with their shared determination to better the modern-day understanding of Seelies. Ekwefi's reputation among the werewolves of Mali has been upheld well in her work as an Ambassador. She's worked with numerous werewolf leaders well, helping negotiate treaties between different clans. Alejandro has fought hard for the adoption of his practice of standing-invitations for common areas in Institutes throughout the nephilim world, and just last month saw his measure succeed.

And as for Lydia- well, they actually have a meeting today. She has been doing rather well in her position, pursuing Warlock interests when talking to Alec and the newly formed Parliament of Alicante, which has replaced the Cohort as the in-power branch of the Clave. Just recently she negotiated for the lifting of worldwide restrictions on the viewing of Warlock Marks in Institutes as well as the addition of positive information about the Marks being disseminated in Shadowhunter training. It's a small change, nearly inconsequential compared to actions like Alejandro's, but Alec recognized the way that Magnus's shoulders had relaxed a little when he'd hear the news.

Speaking of which- here she is, entering the door to his office. She's dressed a bit differently than she used to to conduct business. While she's still wearing the familiar top of a fitted maroon blazer and black shirt, instead of a pencil skirt, she's wearing a pair of pair of fitted maroon slacks. Her heels can rival Izzy's, still, but the small change seems to fit her well. She moves with even more certainty than she used to, the stiffness in her posture replaced by a confident ease.

"Nice outfit," Lydia says with a smile just this side of teasing. 

"My husband picked it out for me," Alec says, referring to the patterned suit he's currently wearing. Magnus enjoys choosing new suits for Alec to wear for his job, and Alec is all too happy to let Magnus choose. He knows that Magnus knows what he's comfortable with and that while Magnus may push him out of his comfort zone a bit, he wouldn't do anything too extravagant for Alec. Thus, suits like today's- mostly black with just a bit of a white pattern, with a small chain on the pants pocket and a comfortable white shirt underneath- are a bit different from the simpler all-black ones Alec used to wear.

However, Alec's all too happy to wear his new suits. Not only do they make Magnus happy, but they also have other benefits as well. The difference in Alec's clothing shows, in a small way, the difference he intends to carry out in the Shadow World. As Magnus says, the clothes reflect the man. If there's one thing he's learned from his husband- and he's learned  _so_ much- it's that clothing can be used to symbolize and represent greater goals.

"He has nice taste," Lydia says, and Alec smiles just a little. This is a professional meeting, of course, but he is always happy to hear his husband complimented.

"Well, let's discuss matters regarding the Warlock community," Alec says, referring to her actual job, and she nods as they sit down at his desk. This is certainly going to be an interesting meeting, considering the fact that he already knows a great deal about what's going on in the Warlock community, especially among Alicante. Lydia's information about the rest of the world, however, will be new information.

-

After he's finished meeting with Lydia, Alec heads out of his office in order to make his afternoon tour of the Alicante Institute. As the capitol Institute, it's much larger than the New York Institute, with several floors and multiple buildings to work through. Alec likes it, however, having taken like a duck to water to coordinating this Institute's efforts.

Standing up at the balcony on the second floor, looking down at the main hall on the floor beneath him, Alec can't help but smile slightly. In front of him work a mixture of Shadowhunters with some Downworlders walking alongside them, traces of magic glowing in the air alongside people with far-too-pale skin, glowing green eyes, and leaf-patterned tattoos. No one is fighting and a number of Shadowhunter-Downworlder pairs have their heads angled towards each other, deep into conversation.

This is the society that Alec and those he loves has worked so hard to build. This may not be the place he grew up, but it is the city and world he has made the home of his married life. This is the world that he will get to live to see the flourish, the world he will get to see grow and become something far beyond his initial lifetime would have given him.

Alec hasn’t aged since the moment Clary put that rune on his and Magnus’ skin. The small wrinkles that his friends are picking up are missing from his own skin. He can feel the tearing that comes from age stopping in his muscles.

He knows he won’t see a major difference for decades, when grey hair will become the norm and he will still be the same, but sometimes it just strikes him just how different he is. Alec will be twenty-three years in appearance and in physical condition until the day he dies.

And to think how this might not have been. To think about the choice that Alec made, about how Alec could have chosen otherwise when it came to this.

Alec is not someone who runs impulsively headfirst into things. He thinks and plans and chooses carefully. There's a reason why he nearly went through with the wedding with Lydia, and why he was prepared for the consequences when he let go of all of that to choose Magnus instead.

In the days he spent figuring out how to save Magnus from Edom, he thought long and hard about what he would be willing to sacrifice to save Magnus, to be with Magnus. And he rather easily came to the conclusion that the answer was  _everything_. He would give the entire world for Magnus.

Alec knew what gaining immortality would mean. He knew that he would watch the other people he loves die, that he would most likely be sacrificing his life with them to be with magic. But at the end of the day, he'd decided that that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

When it had come to rescuing Magnus from Edom, Alec had known that he would do anything. He would become a vampire to enter Edom, would stay in Edom to be with Magnus, would do anything to stay with the love of his life.

When Clary had offered immortality, he had already thought through his options. He already knew what he would choose.

When it comes to Magnus, Alec will make the same choice every time.

And thanks to that choice, Alec knows how long he'll get to last in his position as Inquisitor. He knows that thanks to his husband's immortality and the rune that connects them, he won't have to worry about dying of old age. And thanks to his rather reserved position as Inquisitor rather than being an active field agent, as long as Alicante doesn't get attacked he can't die in battle either.

Instead, he will get to grow older (though never old) and make sure that everything gets accomplished that needs to get accomplished. He’ll still retire from the position at the usual age of 60, still hand the position down to a new generation of Shadowhunters. But he’ll be able to advise them as much as they need, get to help them when they need it.

So at the end of the day, Alec doesn't think that there was ever a possibility of him choosing otherwise. There was only ever one choice, and it was this- immortal happiness for him and Magnus, with a promise of improving the very world they live in.

 

"High Inquistor!" comes the familiar call of Alejandro, and Alec peels himself away from his quick trip peoplewatching. He has a job to do, after all, and he wants to do it well.

"How may I help you, Alejandro?" Alec asks, and the Peruvian Shadowhunter begins to explain the issues that have just popped up with vampires and the Institute in Moscow.

As the two of them intently discuss the issues, Alec can't help but feel pride and satisfaction growing in his chest. This time around, Alec Lightwood didn't have to implode the very ground he is standing on to fix things. Instead, he just gets to live and work and do his very best to change everything, and it doesn't take his misery to do it. Instead, everything he does, even though it takes a lot of work and exhausting hours, makes him far happier in the end than he ever could have dreamed.

 

 

 

**MAGNUS**

  

As Magnus goes about his day- calling clients, performing magic, communicating with other High Warlocks- he can feel a small, constant ache on the inside of his wrist. Not too much of a surprise- that's where the bonding rune- the only rune his skin can bear- is tucked away, so tiny against the flesh of his wrist. It's nearly nonexistent, save for the small pinpricks of pain, but it's the most important spell or rune Magnus thinks he'll ever see. The constant ache is worth everything, when it means that at the end of the day, he is always guaranteed that Alec will return home at the end of the day, smile wide.

Alec texts Magnus, and Magnus's face lights up with a smile as he reads  **ALEXANDER <3** light up with the words _thinking of you. love you._

Magnus has gone through 17,000 relationships up until now, some horrible, some wonderful, but never like this. Never with a partner who has been willing to give everything to be with him, who will never leave or betray him, who willingly tied his lifespan to Magnus' and then is just so fucking domestic with him.

All of those people, before- they almost feel like a distant memory, now, a bad dream. When he gets to have this life, to be the High Warlock of Alicante and live happily in a gorgeous apartment with his wonderful husband, gets to have family dinners (gets to have a _family_ ), he finds it hard for his brain not to dissociate from the pain of the life he had before.

So the beauty of living with a man with Alec hasn't worn off. This is something he doesn't think he'll ever get used to, not with his past, and he's glad not to. Magnus will get to have these moments for the rest of his life. No more dreading the day when all that he will have left of Alec is what’s left in that box- no, he gets to have Alec, Alec's smile, Alec's dedication, until the end of time, as long as neither of them dies in battle.

And considering the fact that their destruction of Edom has decimated the demon population on Earth, creating the environment that can support the shift from Shadowhunter warriors to nephilim diplomats, Magnus is pretty sure that he can very well guarantee that neither of them will die in battle.

(Every day he resists the urge to call Clary and thank her again, because being able to guarantee keeping someone like this by his side is the greatest gift anyone could have ever given them for their wedding.)

But beyond just his husband's immortality- life since their wedding has changed in a number of other ways as well. Alec's appointment to High Inquisitor has been the absolute most welcome shock Magnus has experienced in ages. He hadn't expected it, just weeks after their wedding, especially considering Alec's reputation for consorting with Downworlders, but Magnus definitely hadn't protested.

Alec had been serious about changing things. That was always something that attracted Magnus about Alec- his drive to make things better for the Downworld, to change everything he could. After centuries of Shadowhunters constantly wanting to either maintain the status quo or expand Shadowhunter rule over the Shadow World, Alec has been a breath of fresh air. A lot of new Shadowhunters had been- Izzy, Jace, Helen, Aline, Underhill, Clary, and even Lydia, to name a few- but Alec had pursued with a one-eyed determination  _and_ an understanding of how to do it. Alec has always understood politics, how to bend people without breaking them, how to make to influence people with his opinion without offending anyone.

So once he got the power of High Inquisitor- well, Alec had enacted the widest-reaching and swiftest reforms Magnus has seen in his entire life. Within the first week of his reign as Inquisitor, Alec had summoned a Council in which each of the five major Shadow World factions (Warlock, Seelie, Werewolf, Vampire, and Nephilim) was represented equally, in order to write a new version of the Accords that benefited everyone, not just Shadowhunter superiority.

Within in the Accords came the establishment of the positions of Ambassadors, Shadowhunters who were specifically tasked with learning as much as possible about Downworlders and advocating on their behalf to Shadowhunter leaders across the globe. Though Downworlders have their own advocates around the world, making Shadowhunters who specifically understand nephilim culture and politics work alongside and advocate for Downworlders from a position of privilege is a necessary step towards cooperation and equality.

And then, of course, there had been the establishment of Downworld strongholds and the election of their leaders within Idris and Alicante itself. Werewolf Alphas, Vampire Heads, Seelie knights, and, of course, the High Warlock of Alicante, an absolutely unprecedented position. For millenia Downworlders have been banned from the City, and having their own leaders in Alicante is one of the absolute surest signs of change.

Magnus doesn't think he's ever seen Alec outwardly happier than when the fire message had appeared in their apartment declaring Magnus' appointment to the position of High Warlock. Alec had been so excited for him, so utterly joyous. He'd turned the evening into a celebration of Magnus' success, complete with a lovely dinner arranged by Alec (not cooked by him- Alec is aware of his strengths, and he had the sense to order Magnus' favorite food rather than tried to make it. Alec  _did_ , however, set up the dining room and make the drinks), an adorably hilarious attempt at a dance in the main room of the apartment, and a few rounds of celebratory sex. Alec had done everything possible to celebrate Magnus' accomplishments, to compliment his successes, to show just how much he was loved-

And now Magnus back to the fact that he's never had anyone be so utterly happy for Magnus' successes, not because of how it would benefit them, but because of what it meant for  _him_. Alec was estatic over the appointment of High Warlock because, as he said that night, "You deserve it, Magnus. No one would do better than you at this. You know, objectively speaking, not just as your loving husband who adores you."

So Magnus is rather content in his current life- actually, more than that, he's  _happy_. He's been content before, but happy? That's always been rare. But now, with Alec- it's become the norm.

Happiness has become the norm- such a strange thought, after centuries of misery. Magnus gets to be happy, gets to be married to the love of his life, gets to serve his people by being High Warlock of Alicante. He gets to have everything he's ever been afraid of hoping for.

 _Love you too, Alexander, my lovely husband,_ Magnus texts back, watching as three dots pop up on his screen, indicating that Alec is currently typing a response.

_You know I love it when you say that._

_Husband? Oh, I know, but I'm sure you'll show me how much you love it tonight._

_Magnus, I'm at work. You just can't be saying things like that- it's far too distracting._

Magnus smirks at the idea of his lovely husband getting distracted by their flirting at work. He knows how much Alec enjoys being complimented, and how much he  _wasn't_ in the years before Magnus. He knows that flirting like this is as beloved by Alec as it is by him.

_You love it, dear ;)_

_Yes, I do_ , Alec admits, then a few seconds later:  _But I love you more._

Yes, Magnus is so fucking lucky to have these moments, guaranteed by the sore rune on his wrist. He is so lucky to know that he will get to continue to be happy, to be in love, to be able to see his box of memories as not an inevitability, but as a bittersweet reminder of his past.

- 

A few hours later, Magnus' phone rings and he snaps his fingers to vanish his notebook and summon his phone into his hand. Then he lifts it up to his ear, swiping it on as he does so, and answers, "Magnus Lightwood-Bane, how may I help you?"

"Magnus honey," Maryse says, "I was just checking to make sure you and Alec were coming to Taki's tonight."

Magnus grins. Tonight is a family dinner. Magnus has been going to them for a year, now, and has been enjoying every one of them, no matter how much spectacle has occurred at each one.

As absolutely wonderful as Alec is on his own- and he would have chosen to marry and be with Alec no matter what, regardless of how supportive his family was- he is incredibly happy that Alec's family is as loving as they are. Though it took a little while for them to accept him and Alec's relationship, they have definitely come through- especially Maryse.

Magnus' mother hated him as a child, and he very quickly accepted that whoever he got married to, he would have no parent to attend his wedding (unless he wanted to invite his father, which  _never_ would have happened). But then Maryse had become a mundane, gotten a divorce, and had learned to shift her formerly harsh love for her children into something far more soft and organic. She had accepted Alec, Jace, and Izzy and the relationships and flaws they brought to the table, everything about them that was forbidden or discouraged under Shadowhunter law.

And then she'd accepted Magnus as well. Magnus, who twenty years ago she and her husband had fought with a bitter passion. Magnus, who thirty years ago she called " _scum_ " with a scowl but in the past year has called " _my boy_."

Magnus is not one to forget, but he is definitely one to forgive. He tries to look for the best in people. He looked for the best in Raphael, Ragnor, and Catarina when he first met them, recently looked for the best in Alec, even gave Lydia and Lorenzo a second chance. As long as someone shows that they are making an effort, that they want to be better, then he will most definitely give them a chance.

And Maryse is trying her absolute hardest to be better. She's trying to be more than her bigoted past, trying to make the effort to be the kind of mother she failed to be to her eldest children when they were growing up. She's definitely stumbled a bit along the way, but she keeps putting in the work to prove herself. She's the one who tracked Magnus down to talk about his break-up with Alec, the one who figured out the truth of what was happening with Alec's deal with Admodeus and fixed things.

And so when Magnus got back from Edom and started to plan his wedding, she was the one he thought of to ask about walking him down the aisle. Catarina was obviously going to be his best woman, Ragnor's dead, and Raphael was busy sorting things out with Izzy and Simon, and, well, Magnus really wanted to show Maryse how thankful he was for her help and how much her acceptance- maternal acceptance, the kind he never got- means to him.

"Of course we are," Magnus says, "Wouldn't miss it for the world." 

"Fantastic," Maryse says, "Because Lucian and I have an announcement to make and we want the whole family there."

Something warms in Magnus' chest at the idea of inclusion. He'd thought, at the wedding, that maybe that feeling would someday stop feeling new, but even now it doesn't. Marrying Alec didn't just tie him to the most wonderful man in the world- it also gave him a family that loves him, too.

"Can't wait to hear it," Magnus says. "And neither can Alexander, I'm sure."

"Well, I can't wait to see you two," Maryse says, "It would be utterly boring without you."

Magnus laughs. He doesn't think the Lightwood family is  _capable_ of being boring. Alec, Izzy, Maryse, Jace, even Max- he may be dramatic, but they certainly give him a run for his money.

"I don't think you need me for drama," Magnus says.

He can practically hear the fond smile in Maryse's voice when she responds. "No, but we definitely want you to come and lend us a bit of flair."

Well, Magnus  _is_ good at that. What does Alec always say to him- thanks for the dramatic entrance? Moving to Alicante, while tempering some of his more public extravangant tendencies, has not tempered his flair for the dramatic.

"Why, thank you-" Magnus says as a fire message fizzles into life in front of Magnus. It's Lydia, coming to talk to him in five minutes about the meeting she just had with Alec about recent warlock issues. It's lovely reminder that Lydia always sends before their scheduled meetings, just to make sure that she's not interrupting anything when she shows up to the door.

"Sorry, Maryse," Magnus says, genuinely apologetic, "But I have a rather important meeting in a couple of minutes, so I'm going to have to say goodbye."

"Understandable," Maryse says, not a single note of resentment to her voice, and Magnus smiles.

"See you in a few hours, Maryse."

"See you too. Love you, Magnus," Maryse says, and Magnus's heart warms again.

"Love you too," he says, and the words feel wonderfully natural on his tongue. She's his mother-in-law, and she loves him, and he loves her too. He loves the entire family he has now, from the Lightwoods that he has married into to the Downworlder family- Catarina, Madzie, Raphael, Maia, Simon, even Meliorn- that he has claimed as him own.

Magnus's family has grown so much over the past couple of years. Yes, he lost Ragnor, a loss that severely hurt, but in the meantime he's gained so many people who care about him. Alec most of all, but so many others as well.

As Magnus hangs up and goes to arrange a few things for his meeting with Lydia, he can't help but smile. He feels so happy and loved now, and the best part about all of this is that he knows that it isn't going to end. Magnus is going to keep being loved and accepted, and though he's going to go through some rough times, for sure, he will never be alone again.

What a strange, wonderful reality to be living in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I finished this and I realized that except in the discussions of the past, Alec and Magnus don't interact once in person. Well, um, oops? This felt like the organic way to go, and I thought it still worked for me, and I hope it worked for you guys as well.


	5. open up the door (out of the shadows and into the light)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title is from "Where We Come Alive" by Ruelle, which has become my unofficial Claia theme song by this point. It's the final song in the show, and I've appropriated it for more, well, gay tidings.
> 
>  
> 
> In which this chapter is months late, but I'm sorry so that should mean something, right? Sorry, writer's block is a bitch.

_We enter a restaurant and find a rather strange group arrayed before us. A family, loud and enthusiastic, occupies the table in the corner. At the head of the table sits a mundane woman and her werewolf fiance, who are waiting until the end of the dinner to announce their engagement. The owner of the restaurant actually sits among the bustle, hand in hand with her red-haired Shadowhunter girlfriend. They're comparing notes about their days and they're so close together that they're practically sitting in each other's laps. And no surprise- this is the first moment they’ve gotten to see each other today._

_Without this werewolf, this diner wouldn't even be an idea. Without her girlfriend, they'd still be constructing it._

 

 

 

**MAIA**

 

Maia had been dreaming of this restaurant for years, before she'd even been turned into a werewolf. As a little kid, she loved to cook for her mom when they'd had the supplies to do so, and she'd aced her math classes for years until she'd been Turned. She'd wanted to own a restaurant for years, to create a place where people could enjoy good food, the kind of comfort food which her mom had learned from her own mom as well as some foods that Maia had learned to make over the years.

Turning the restaurant into a haven for Downworlder and Shadowhunter alike, a place where former foe could meet former foe over a slightly-too-rare steak, a glass of herb-laced blood, some fresh kelp, and a good burger- that had come later, long after she'd been Turned. Maia wanted to give the Shadow World a place to hope, a place where people who had been Turned because of reasons like she had- abusive partners, lying friends, betrayals and traumatic attacks of any sort- could rest and smile. A place where people of all Shadow World factions could come together and not have to think about the differences between them.

And Clary Fray had helped her make it happen.

Yeah, Clary's support cannot possibly be understated. Alongside starting to date and helping restructure their little corner of the Shadow World,  Maia started her own restaurant with Clary vigorously campaigning for her and helping her along the way. (It actually got to the point one day where Maia had to ask her to calm down and relax so that she didn't exhaust herself.) Clary has been there every step of the way to achieving what she once thought impossible and making her dreams a reality.

Thanks to Clary's help, Maia’s restaurant was up and running within half a year after the wedding. Just as she'd hoped, to this day it employs people across the various factions- there are two Vampire waitresses as well as one Vamp cook, a Seelie host and a Seelie sous chef, a warlock head chef, a werewolf manager, cook, and owner as well as another werewolf waiter, and a Shadowhunter part-time waitress and interior decorator.

The decor on the inside is designed and painted by Clary, who continues to put all of her passion into her girlfriend’s dream. She'll even fill in on nights with call-outs- at this point, she's able to fill nearly any role on the staff, from waitress to host to janior to basic chef. She does it all with a smile, knowing what it means to Maia.

("There are far less demons nowadays," Clary had said, "They can afford to lose me in the evenings so that I can help you out. I love you, and you're my priority."

Which, Maia has to admit, had led to a rather passionate make-out session and eventually a few rounds of sex that night.)

Simon sometimes sings, providing live entertainment to both the daytime and nocturnal crowds. It's a job that Maia was more than happy to give her closest friend. She'd been achieving her own dreams- why not help Simon reach his?

And in addition to some of them filling in jobs, Maia's friends are also frequent customers. From Magnus, who portals in about once every three weeks with Alec for a date night, to Simon, who brings Izzy sometimes during daylight, Raphael sometimes at night, and sometimes both at once, to even Jace and Meliorn, who have shown up at least once a month for dates, even after Meliorn became the offical Seelie King.

Today her restaurant proudly serves any member of the Shadow World, Downworlders and Nephilim alike. With every passing day more interspecies groups- whether friends or couples- pass through, and it makes Maia smile. Maia always likes it when people of all species visit, and Clary's always extremely proud when a Head of one of the Downworld factions visits her girlfriend's restaurant (which has been happening more and more as Izzy has started to bring a lot of visiting heads to  _Taki's_ as her unofficial meeting place to demonstrate the ways in which the Downworlders and the Shadowhunters can be seamlessly integrated together).

(When Lorenzo Rey visits with Underhill or Meliorn with Jace, Clary has a habit of smirking and kissing Maia on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you," she says, and Maia hugs Clary and thanks whatever god exists that she has Clary in her life now.)

As Maia works, costumers enter from both the front and the back. Portalling is set up in the back alley, with a door set up specifically for customers on the opposite side of the back wall from the one for supplies. Day in and out, Warlocks portal in with various other Warlocks, Downworlders, and even Shadowhunters as trade and diplomacy advance far past anything the old Accords produced.

A portal flashes- it's Lorenzo Rey and his Shadowhunter boyfriend, arriving for their dinner reservation (made by Lorenzo a few days ago). It's not just Clary and the Lightwoods who are dating Downworlders- Maia has seen a good number of Shadowhunter-Downworlder couples come through lately. Lorenzo and his Shadowhunter are the most prominent among the non-Lightwoods, but there have been a few others. A Shadowhunter brought her Mundane girlfriend here last month, a newly Turned wolf and her Shadowhunter boyfriend have regular dates here on Thursday nights, and one of Meliorn's most prominent Seelie knights dragged a Shadowhunter who just transferred from the Alberquerque Institute here last week.

All in all, Maia's restaurant is accomplishing everything she ever dreamed it could. People love to come for the food, the music, and the atmosphere, and she has plenty of repeat costumers who give great reviews.

Maia can't help but think of how far she's come since the night she was Turned. She was so afraid then, terrified of her boyfriend and what was happening to her and everything her new world entailed. She spent a lot of the next couple of years alternating between being angry and resigned with the Shadowhunters and how she was once again stuck as the race at the bottom of a system designed against her best interests. She had to deal with a whole new kind of racism as well as learning how to control her anger so as not to Turn unexpectedly.

And now, in the past year, so much has changed. From Alec and the changes he's made at the top to the small changes that Maia herself has managed to make in New York City with her restaurant- so many things are looking up. Maia can't help but feel content in the world she's living in, in the job and home and family she's created for herself. She has her restaurant and her relationship and a much better world to live in.

As Maia flips a few of the burgers, she can't help but smile when she thinks about the fact that Clary, so instrumental in so many of these changes, is going to be here within a half hour or so. Her girlfriend- and isn't that a nice thing to say, for once. Unlike Jordan, who hurt her, Clary has done nothing but love and support Maia. She likes to tease Maia, sure, and she has no inhibitions in regards to kicking Maia's ass at Mario Kart, but she has been nothing but a positive influence on Maia's life since they started dating, the week after Magnus' wedding.

Jordan is her backstory; Clary is her future. 

And Maia couldn't be happier to look forward to what's to come.

 

 

 

**CLARY**

 

When she'd first become a Shadowhunter, Clary had had severe doubts as to whether she'd be able to keep painting. Art hadn't really been a priority in the time from the moment she'd first entered the Shadow World to the night she'd defeated Jonathan. With the world constantly ending and demons invading, she'd had much more pressing, life-and-death type situations to worry about. Compared to all of that mess, art had taken a very pointed backseat.

But after Edom had been destroyed, thus severely decreasing the number of demons on earth, Clary's priorities were allowed to shift. She could focus on giving her budding relationship with Maia her full attention, as well as helping Maia with her restaurant and being the New York Ambassador to the Werewolves. She could stop worrying about saving the world and instead focus on the things that made  _her_ happy.

And, of course, Clary was able to paint the walls in Maia's restaurant. Some were plain, but others became murals. She designed one room for each of the factions in the Shadow World- one wall she painted for werewolves, one for Seelies, one for vampires, one for warlocks, and one for Shadowhunters. She figured color schemes and plotted out paintings, designed intricate abstract paintings in metallic trim and colors for the various areas. The werewolf one was rushing abstract wolf figures in dark green and gold, the vampire one moons in silver against dark red patterns, the warlock one swirls of magic in purple and burnished bronze, the Seelie one patterned leaves in blues and greens, and the Shadowhunter ones runes in black against gold and blue patterns.

Clary can remember the long days she'd spent painting the walls as Maia helped Clary with some of her Ambassador paperwork, making sure that all of their joint responsibilities got completed so that Maia's restaurant and Clary's Shadowhunter concerns were dealt with in a timely fashion. 

The day that the restaurant had opened had to have been one of the best days of Clary's life, probably alongside the day she became a Shadowhunter and the day she got to give Alec and Magnus the bonding rune. Seeing Maia's smile, being able to celebrate with the first day of business, going home after midnight to a round of sex that they'd collapsed into sleep after- god, Clary can't remember every being that fucking proud and happy in her life.

 _Taki's_ was the culmination of Maia's dreams, and in a way, it was a culmination of Clary's, too. Her dreams to make the people she loves happy, to see the Shadow World healed after everything her father did to tear it apart, to be able to blend art and the Shadow World together- well,  _Taki's_ had managed to bring all of that together. 

Family dinners have also taken place at  _Taki's_ \- a welcome occurrence over the last few months.

It's always strange to be able to get everyone's schedules to line up so that everyone Clary considers family manage to make it to family dinners. Sometimes it's just her and Maia and one of the other couples in the family, sometimes it's just Simon and Luke, sometimes it's just everyone in New York without Magnus and Alec, sometimes it's just the Downworlders when all of the Shadowhunters are caught up in Institute business, sometimes it's just Luke and Maryse. Tonight, though, everyone has managed to get the time off to come to  _Taki's_ for dinner.

Clary's not gonna deny that it hurts, sometimes, that her mother's not here to see what Clary's family has become. She knows that her mother would have loved to meet Maia, the lovely woman who Clary loves and now lives with in their shared apartment by Hunter's Moon. She knows that her mother would have loved to meet Raphael and Izzy, to know that there are people who love Simon and cherish him like no one ever has. She knows that her mother would have even loved to meet Alec and Magnus, Maryse's children and the people Clary considers close family, as well as Jace and Meliorn, as despite the fact that Jace isn't really her son Clary is pretty sure that her mother would adopted Jace into the family just as surely as she did Simon.

But Clary spent her time in heart-wrenching grief for her mother, sorted her way through blame and sorrow. She doesn't want to spend the rest of her life in that, and she knows that her mother wouldn't have blamed her for moving on and being happy and comfortable in her life now. 

Clary also knows that Jocelyn wouldn't have begrudged Luke falling in love with Maryse. Jocelyn would have wanted Luke to be happy, to be able to move on and not live in grief for the rest of his life. She would have been happy for Luke and Maryse, for the good they bring out in each other. She would have been proud of Luke and Simon and Clary for the lives that they've made for themselves, for everything they've built for themselves out of the wreckage of the lives they used to have.

So yes, Clary misses her mom. But she's grown to love Maryse and she wouldn't give up the family she has now. She loves having Magnus and Alec and Maryse and Luke to turn to for advice, loves hanging out with Izzy and Simon and Jace, loves Meliorn and Raphael's senses of humor (and how happy they make Simon and Jace, the men she considers her brothers by this point). She loves Maia point-blank, loves having a wonderful, gorgeous girlfriend who can run a business and kick ass in a fight against demons just as easily as she can recite every Power Ranger and their color and team or kick Simon's ass at video games.

Which is why tonight's family dinner is going to be so wonderful. It's the first one where all of them can make it, and it's the first time she's going to see Meliorn in any sort of official "family" capacity. Luke also promised that he had an announcement to make at dinner tonight, which will certainly liven up an already chaotic family dinner.

And speaking of family dinners, it's time to portal to the restaurant and see if Maia needs help before dinnertime. 

Portalling into the back of the restaurant takes next to no effort. The past year has allowed Clary to really work on developing and crafting her runes alongside all of her other jobs, and it's become a lot easier on her body to use runes, even the unique ones like portalling or the bonding rune (not that she's used it on anyone since Alec, though she has made it clear to Izzy and Jace that if their relationships get serious enough with their Downworlder partners, she's more than willing to use it on them).

Clary reaches up and straightens her jacket- well, Maia's jacket if she's being exact, but who's keeping track- over top of her dress for the night. After her meeting with Izzy in the early afternoon she'd headed over to Hunter's Moon to talk with Luke and a few of the other werewolves there, then made one of her usual rounds checking for demons in her area before heading back to her and Maia's apartment and changing. Her dress is nothing too fancy- if she ends up helping out waitressing, it won't get ruined or anything- but it's definitely not something she would train in, not with the sundress-weight-fabric and knee-length skirt.

Then she enters the kitchen through the staff door, where she gets to see Maia, gorgeous and breath-taking as always in a maroon draped blouse and black slacks, silver jewelry bright against her full afro. She looks every inch the successful business owner, second-in-command werewolf, and fucking model that she really is.

"Nice to see you, darling," Maia says, pressing a quick kiss to Clary's cheek, and Clary smiles.

"It's always lovely to see you," she says, turning to kiss Maia on the lips. Maia gives her a fond smile.

"Want to help me with just a couple of orders before everyone starts to show up?"

"It'd be my pleasure," Clary says, and she really means it. She's always been someone who takes joy and pride from being able to share in experiences and jobs with the people she's dating- even as her world has changed, that really hasn't. Clary honestly can't think of another thing she'd enjoy more than working alongside her girlfriend. "Do you want me on the floor or in the kitchen?"

Kristen, the vamp cook, snorts from the drinks station, and Clary raises an eyebrow. "What was that about, Kris?" she asks, trying to keep her tone serious but smile teasing.

"The last time you tried to cook in here you burned three separate orders, somehow including a blood smoothie," Javi, the Seelie chef, adds as he slices through some greens, and Harrison, the Warlock head chef, nods as he flips a burger.

"Yeah," Maia says with a fond laugh, "Gotta agree with our favorite sous chef. Clary, my dearest Rey- mind playing waitress for a half hour or so, until the family starts to trickle in? Cover the family table 32 and whatever else Elsa needs help with?"

"Only because I love you," Clary says, already grabbing an apron from the shelf in the corner to loop around her waist. Maia grins and blows her a kiss.

"Knew I could count on you," Maia says with a wink.

"Ah, ah," Clary says, waggling a finger. "Only if I get a kiss _here_  first." She points at her cheek, and Maia's smirk softens as she leans forward and kisses Clary's cheek. "And we get to watch Chronicles of Narnianext movie marathon instead of Star Wars."

Maia's nose wrinkles but she nods. "It's a deal, long as  _you_ agree to rest after dinner tonight."

"You drive a hard bargain, but I guess I can make that happen," Clary says in a faux-fancy tone, then breaks down laughing a few moments later. Maia laughs for a moment, too, smile wide and bright, and Clary would be happy to stay here forever.

But Clary knows that the easiest way to keep Maia smiling would be to help her business run well, and so she slips off her jacket, hangs it on one of the hooks by the door, and heads out the door and into the main area of the restaurant so that she can get table 32's orders.


	6. all these stumbles and falls (led me straight to your heart)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title is from "Bridges" by Aisha Badru, from the end of episode 3x20 during the Magnus/Alec proposal.
> 
> Alright, the reason why it took so long to get this chapter out was because while I always found Maryse/Luke cute, I never hardcore shipped them, so it took awhile to get inspiration and a place to start writing from. Once I found it, though, I fell in love with this ship. Hope you guys all like it- there's part of the long-awaited family dinner, at least!

_We enter a restaurant and find a rather strange group arrayed before us. A family, loud and enthusiastic, occupies the table in the corner. At the head of the table sits a mundane woman and her werewolf fiance, who are waiting until the end of the dinner to announce their engagement._

_They're the only parents at this table, and they're the ones who started this whole mess by raising a bunch of wonderful kids. I wonder how they feel, watching this mess._

 

 

 

**LUKE**

 

If you had asked Lucian Greymark twenty years ago where he saw his family going, he probably would said that he expected to marry a Shadowhunter girl and have three to four kids who would become Shadowhunters themselves and then marry their own Shadowhunters to carry on the Greymark line.

Then he got turned into a werewolf, and fell in love with Jocelyn Fray and her little girl, and that once dream became nothing but a faint memory of a world he would never get to inhabit again. Instead Luke- now Garroway- turned his hopes toward the Down World, Jocelyn, and Clary, figuring out how to balance how to be a werewolf with protecting the little girl he was quickly starting to love as his own daughter.

By the time his kids- because Clary and Simon _are_ his kids, no matter their parentage- started dating their current partners, it wasn't the Downworld thing that got him.

It was the whole age thing.

Luke's not immortal. He never has been. Being Turned DeRuned him, yes, but he became a Wolf. He didn't gain any sort of enhanced lifespan save maybe an extra ten or so years, if he managed to survive that long. 

He's been working alongside Meliorn and Magnus and Raphael for over a decade, now. He's only been the New York Alpha for a good year and a half, now, but he's been a werewolf for longer than that. He's spoken with Meliorn and Magnus and Raphael in that position for years now, and he's gained ten years worth of impressions of the three of them as adults.

Meliorn's the easiest, he supposes. He's barely interacted with the Seelie over the years, and Jace isn't _his_ , per se. Well, he _is,_ in a way, because he was almost Jocelyn's, and he _is_ Maryse's, and Clary practically considers Jace an adopted brother by this point, but Luke didn't watch Jace grow up. He has no memories of Jace as a child to square with his memories of Meliorn as an adult Seelie warrior. No, he can see that Meliorn and Jace, from the little he's seen of their developing relationship, fit well together.

Magnus is similarly not as difficult. Alec Lightwood has always been rather mature for his age in all of the dealings that Luke has had with him, even with they disagreed, and it makes plenty of sense that Magnus would fall for the Shadowhunter who set in motion the opening of diplomatic lines between the Down World and the Shadowhunters. Magnus and Alec have gone to bat for each other time and time again, while also showing that they have the maturity and rational mindset to not let their relationship get in the way of being good leaders for their respective people- a people that have become almost one, nowadays.

Maia and Clary were a bit easier. He sees them both in an almost daughterly context, and Luke doesn't have a decade of past experience with Maia as an adult to contend with. He knows her to be a strong leader, but that’s not that different than Clary, to be honest. They fit together well, with no preconceived notions by him to bump up against.

Raphael is probably the hardest to square with Luke's kids.

Yes, Simon is a vampire, and thus immortal too, Luke logically understands that.

But Luke got to watch Simon grow up alongside Clary, with his chubby cheeks and glasses and adolescent crush on Clary. He _knows_ Simon in a way that he doesn’t know Jace or Alec or Izzy. He knew Simon when he was young. And that’s so hard to square with the fact that for just as long as Luke has known Simon- which is since Simon was a toddler- Luke’s known Raphael as a fully functioning adult. He's known Raphael as Camille's second-in-command, known him as the Catholic vamp who he would sometimes see standing outside of churches when on patrol, known him as a standoff-ish vamp who hated Nephilim and only ever really talked to one non-Vamp in Magnus.

When Luke first met Raphel as a werewolf, Simon was just a seven-year-old with a missing front tooth, glasses, and an obsession with Pokemon. That image is hard to square with the brooding vamp who'd snarled or grumbled rather than smile.

It took a while, Luke's gotta admit, for him to accept Raphael. For him to understand Raphael not as Camille's once-fledgling, not as the Clan's reluctant leader and diplomat, but rather as a vamp who stands on his own and respects all of the species of the Shadow World.

But eventually, after months of observing Raphael with Simon and Izzy, Luke _had_ realized that his own preconceived ideas of Raphael, of Magnus and Meliorn and even Maia, meant nothing, not next to how they act nowadays, warm and open. 

Because after all this, Luke can't help but be proud of everything that's happened, of how much change his kids have helped enact, of how much the world has changed. The Meliorn, Raphael, and Magnus that Luke knew years ago would not have fallen in love with their current partners. They wouldn't have been willing to trust Shadowhunters on the New York Council, much less _date_ Shadowhunters.

But through the efforts of this new generation- which definitely involves Luke's kids- the Downworld and the Shadow World have changed. Meliorn, Raphael, and Magnus have changed into different men, and Luke's kids are different people. Clary's the Shadowhunter Ambassador to the werewolves. Simon has a steady job as a musician in  _Taki's_ , which serves members of every Shadow World species. They are not the kids he watched through middle and high school, the girl who got in trouble for graffiti-ing the gym walls and the boy who wore glasses and played chess and had an unrequited crush on Clary as large as the full moon.

No, Luke's kids have grown up. They've seen things and done things that have had them mature and change into different people. Not too different- that's still Luke's headstrong, recklessly brave, brilliant girl and smart, passionate, kind boy- but different enough. They suit themselves and their partners far better now than they ever would have a few years ago.

And then Luke looks over at Maryse, who's laughing at something that Maia said to her as they entered _Taki's_. Maryse, who's changed just as much as Meliorn, Raphael, or Magnus have.

As beautiful of a woman as she was twenty years ago, Luke knows that once he Turned, he never could have ended up with her. She was so full of hate for everything that he was, still such a fervent part of the Circle and its racism and discrimination. Back then, she was closer in ideology to Valentine than to Luke.

But now, after making peace with first Magnus and Alec and then with her DeRuning, she's changed so much. She's grown so much as a person and made so much effort into making things right. She's taken all of that passion she's always had and redirected it to pursuits outside of being a Shadowhunter, focusing on her beloved bookstore and mending relationships with her kids. She's become a woman whose passions are filtered through a creative lens rather than a destructive one, who knows how to love her family without destroying them.

And Luke loves that about her, in addition to a thousand small everyday details about her. He loves the way she smiles at a slight angle, the way she constantly readjusts her reading glasses on her nose as her Shadowhunter supersenses start to fade, the way she will often stop and take upwards of twenty minutes just to get a costumer the perfect book, the way she walks with such grace long after being DeRuned. He loves the fact that she makes sure to call each of her children at least once a week, and tries to visit  _Taki's_  at least once every two weeks to visit with Maia and Clary and sometimes Izzy, Raphael, and Simon.

Luke loved Jocelyn, he knows. But he's just as happy with Maryse that he once was with Jocelyn, and he knows that Jocelyn wouldn't begrudge him moving on, especially with someone who clearly loves Clary and Simon and Izzy and Jace and Alec just as much as Luke does.

Clary bounds up to Luke and wraps her arms around him. "Nice to see you, Luke," she says, smile wide, and Luke is more than happy to hug his daughter- because she  _is-_ in return.

"Nice to see you too, kid," Luke says, smiling right back at her. "You excited to see everyone for dinner?"

"Of course," Clary says, "Especially the new addition. Jace text you, too?"

Luke nods. Meliorn, the Seelie King, is set to join them for family dinner tonight- as Jace's guest, just as he texted Luke and Maryse earlier. As much as Meliorn and Jace have both changed, it's still a bit of a shock. Both of them, with their emotional walls of different sorts, with their reputations for sex and lack of real commitment to relationships, aren't exactly a couple he ever would expected to end up together.

But if they make each other happy and comfortable- well, then, he's happy for them. That's what matters at the end of the day, as far as Luke can see it- that two people are good for each other, support and love each other and make each other happy.

"I'll take you and Maryse to the table, then," Clary says, "Maia will join us once everyone else arrives."

Within a few minutes, Magnus and Alec should portal in, and Jace, Meliorn, Izzy, Raphael, and Simon should show up within the next ten minutes as well. Luke can't wait to have them all here to make the announcement that he and Maryse have been waiting since last night to tell. 

It all comes back to change, he guesses. Back to the progress that they're all still making to this day, the desire to see their world move forward, to maintain healthy relationships and continue to make new ones. To falling in love and building a family and constantly trying to learn new things about the ones you love.

"Can't wait," Luke says, smiling down at his daughter as he thinks about the future. 

 

 

 

**MARYSE**

 

Sitting down at the table at  _Taki's_ , Maryse can't help but run her fingers over the ring on her hand as she thinks about her kids. 

First there's her eldest son, sitting next to his husband at the table.

Maryse had always known that Alec would make a great leader. From a young age, that's what he wanted to do, to grow up to be Head of the Institute. To see him become not just the Head of the New York Institute, but also the High Inquisitor, a position Maryse never thought she'd ever get to see anyone in her family line achieve in her lifetime- well, she couldn't have been prouder to watch him lead the entire Shadow World into a new age, get to watch him accomplish everything he'd ever dreamed of and far more.

And side by side with his husband, too, a dream he never could have thought he would get to accomplish as a child. And yet- Alec, through strength of character and determination and heart, had gotten married to the most wonderful sort of man.

Jace, Alec, Isabelle, and Max Maryse considers her children, but Magnus- well, her relationship is a strange one, but in a way she feels rather maternal towards him. She couldn't have been prouder than the moment she got to walk him down the aisle, a year ago, was just as proud of his election to High Warlock of Idris as she was about Alec making High Inquisitor. Despite memories of him twenty years ago, she sees him almost as yet another son of hers, a child she is so happy to see grow and be happy.

Then Isabelle, always far from the expected. 

She's easily the most intelligent of all of Maryse's children. Alec's the most rational, the one prone to making the wisest decisions, but Isabelle- well, Isabelle's an absolute genius. From her forensic work to her running of the New York Institute, she's proven over and over that she is more than capable of taking on any challenge and exceeding any sort of expectations.

If anyone is capable of maintaining a relationship with three people, of figuring out how to make it work- it'll be Maryse's daughter, infinitely capable and underappreciated. Maryse knows that she herself was one of those people who so undervalued Isabelle, who listened more to Isabelle's reputation than her actual record.

As for Isabelle's boyfriends- well, Simon's a dear, and practically Luke's stepson of sorts, so Maryse never really had any doubts about him. Raphael was a bit of an unknown, but both Isabelle and Simon had practically sung his praises, so she'd been willing to accept him since he made her daughter so happy.

Then her second oldest son, Jace, sitting next to Meliorn, who Jace texted her about bringing to dinner just a couple of hours ago.

Now,  _that_ is a relationship that came as a surprise. Alec coming out as gay at his wedding and everything that followed, that made sense. He and Magnus fit well, both rather wise leaders with a selfless passion for protecting their communities. Isabelle and Raphael or Isabelle and Simon, if not together- they made sense. Isabelle was always the rebellious one, after all, with rumors of her relationships with Downworlders from an earlier age than Alec or Jace.

But Jace and Meliorn, infamous for his dislike of Shadowhunters, even if he has deigned to sleep with a few of them over the years? Well, that had been the most surprising of all of her children's relationships, if Maryse is being honest.

Jace was never the son who struck her as the one that wouldn't marry a Shadowhunter of the opposite sex. Alec, even before he came out, was always the child of hers too devoted to duty to really think about marriage. Isabelle had her reputation with Downworlders. But Jace- well, he's had plenty of girlfriends over the years, but all the ones that Maryse is aware of were Shadowhunters. 

So his growing relationship with the new Seelie King, of all people? That was never on Maryse's radar. Meliorn never seemed like the type, first of all, but neither did Jace. Jace, with his rough edges and the nightmares he would never admit to and the damage that Valentine managed to wreak without anyone realizing. He'd been so far from the type to be soft, to fall in love, to be tender.

But to be honest? She's welcomed it.

Watching Jace soften has been something that Maryse has cherished as much as she's cherished Alec getting married or Isabelle taking the role of Head of the Institute and brokering the best peace deals New York has seen in ages. Jace softening, working through the damage that Valentine did, learning to be vulnerable with anyone save Alec- it's been absolutely beautiful.

Maryse Lightwood used to think that power and the Shadowhunter way were the only way her children could be fulfilled, but she has learned otherwise over the past couple of years. She has learned the importance of genuine happiness, of love and its power to fulfill, even if it comes from the most forbidden and unconventional of places.

Maryse knows that she hurt her children when they were younger. She hurt them even up until about a year and a half ago, in some attempt at proving herself as a good Shadowhunter. 

And for the past year and a half, she's been trying to fix that. At first she'd been terrified that she'd damaged her children too much, that she'd broken them too far, but they'd proven to be stronger than she ever could have imagined. They found their ways to love and happiness, and she couldn't be prouder.

At the end of the day, all Maryse Lightwood wants is for her children to be happy. She knows that her children are so happy now, and here's the kicker- so is she.

Luke Garroway is not the man she ever thought she'd marry, if she's being honest. After all, the legend goes that Shadowhunters fall in love once, and love that person for the rest of your life. 

When Maryse learned that Robert cheated on her, she started to doubt whether or not she was ever Robert's Great Love to begin with. If you love someone, would you ever cheat on them like that? Even through arguments and disagreements and their children so clearly rebelling against her and Robert's instructions and lessons, Maryse never would have cheated on Robert. 

So she supposes that both she and Luke have a clean page of sorts on which to fall in love. His Great Love died; hers threw away her love like it was nothing.

Neither of them are new to this. But they have been dedicated to this nonetheless. They have been putting their best into working on this relationship, into building something new and solid and real.

Maybe you can't have a Great Fall twice. But you can build a steady and warm love, with an slowly organic sort of passion. You can work through past prejudices and mistakes, learn to understand someone and love every part and insignificant habit of theirs.

Maryse was already turning a new page when she got DeRuned and started her bookshop as a mundane. But Luke, he came in and made her feel not just new but  _young_ again. He reminded her that there are many places you can get happiness from. You can get it from your children and their accomplishments, you can get it from your own hobbies and achievements, you can get it from friends, and you can get it from romantic love.

When they kissed for the first time, for the fourth time, for the forty-fourth, Maryse was reminded that she could love someone who loved her back, who appreciated her and was truly loyal to her. 

When Luke proposed last night, sitting her down in the front of her store right after it closed, she'd known that he was the one. That spending the rest of her life with him was an outcome she would be all too happy to live to.

Luke had revealed a ring carved into the shape of circling branches, a small cloudy stone set into it. "Maryse," he'd said, "I love you. I know we're getting up in years, but I see no reason why we shouldn't spend the rest of our old years together. Would you marry me and make an honest wolf out of me?"

"Yes," she'd said simply, no grand speech in return, nothing but the widest of smiles on her face. He'd smiled right back at her, leaning in to kiss her, his hand brushing the hair at the base of her neck.

"Where'd you come up for the design?" Maryse asked, blinking back happy tears as he'd leaned back and slipped the ring onto her finger.

"I nearly had it carved with wings or a rune," he said, "But I thought it would be better if it represented something new. Something more about us, now, than us, then."

"I couldn't agree more," she agreed.

Now, though, at family dinner, Luke raises a hand. "Guys!" he calls out, and he's not shouting, but he's always had a rather commanding tone to his voice when he wants to, a tone he utilizes now. "We've got an announcement to make!"

The conversation at the table stills, everyone looking at then in semi-rapt attention. The mood at the table is expectant but not rigid, a sort of comfort between them all of a sort that Maryse never could have gotten back at the Institute.

Maryse opens her mouth to say the words, and then- 

"You've gotta be fucking with me," Isabelle nearly squeals, and before Maryse has a moment to do anything more than raise an eyebrow at her daughter's cursing, Isabelle is grabbing for Maryse's hand and holding it up, showing off the ring.

"You two are  _engaged_?" Simon immediately cottons on to the fact, just a split second behind his girlfriend. "By HaShem, that's awesome!"

"Congratulations, Lucian," Maryse hears Meliorn smirk as Magnus turns to Maryse, a smile on his lips.

"Congratulations," he says, "I'm fully ready to offer my services for the wedding planning."

Beyond him just a little, Alec smiles at Maryse. "He's got the experience, now," he says, and Magnus winks at her before turning and kissing Alec's cheek.

Maryse can't help but let some laughter bubble up over her lips. Everyone is so enthusiastic and supportive, openly celebrating this engagement in a way that her last engagement never was. Shadowhunter engagements were private celebrations between two Shadowhunters, with the official announcement being treated almost like a political declaration rather than a festive occasion. She has to admit that she much prefers this to that.

"Round of drinks to celebrate?" Maia suggests from next to Clary, a glint in her eyes, and Magnus's lips curve into a mischievous smile.

"Sounds great to me," he says, and raises his hand a bit. "Want me to take care of it, or do you...?"

"Well, it  _is_ her restaurant," Clary jumps in, ready to make sure her girlfriend is respected, and Magnus nods.

"Of course," he says with a nod. "Maia?"

"I'll get my guys right on it," Maia says, and Clary smiles at her, clearly proud of her girlfriend's business. It's the same smile that Maryse always see on Luke when he visits the store, on Simon when he talks about Raphael and Isabelle to her, on Magnus and Alec when they're talking about each other, on Jace the times he mentions Meliorn.

It's a smile that Maryse will be so happy to see on her family's faces for the rest of her life.


	7. epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now we end the story.

__

_Dinner is over, now._

_The mundane woman and her werewolf fiance have finally made their announcement and everyone cheered for them, congratulating them on finally popping the question. The High Warlock of Alicante and the Head of the Institute immediately offered to help with wedding planning, and the couple told them that they'd definitely use them as wedding planners when they started planning out the wedding. For now, though, the couple is heading out to the mundane woman's bookstore, where they have a few things left to organize before retiring to bed for the night._

_The werewolf girl and her girlfriend are remaining after dinner, staying to cover the first part of the night shift. A business that caters mostly to nocturnal Downworlders and Shadowhunters, the night shift is a bit more important than the day shift. The two of them are already discussing the special for the night as they head away from the table and into the kitchen._

_The High Warlock of Alicante has gotten a text on his phone about a young warlock girl and he and his husband are leaving to take care of her. The owner of the restaurant generally discourages portal creation in the restaurant so as not to disturb other customers, so once outside, he'll create a portal to take them to Alicante. Right now, though, his husband leans in and gives him a quick peck on the cheek as they both pull on their jackets._

_The Head of the Institute and her two vampires are heading to the Hotel Dumort, where the Head of the New York Clan has plenty of affairs to take care of. His boyfriend and girlfriend are more than happy to come with_ _\- though, to be honest, the Head of the Institute is likely to end up taking a nap on the armchair in the corner of his office as she's been up since rather early that morning. Not that either vampire cares- they both understand what it was once like to be mortal._

_The Seelie King and the man he is now courting to be his Consort are heading back to his apartment. The bandage on the Shadowhunter's arm needs to be adjusted, and of course a round of celebratory sex is on the table._

_The table that once held the ponytailed warlock and his Shadowhunter boyfriend has been empty for half an hour, now. Done with their meal, they had no reason to remain at the restaurant. The warlock's hefty tip is sitting in the apron of the vampire waitress that served the couple, where it will soon be joined by the tip of the family currently_ _picking up their things and leaving the table._

_I am leaving now as well. I have spent long enough here, learning their stories, learning about their love, and I think they deserve some time and space for themselves, away from my prying eyes._

_You should come with me too, my dear. There is nothing left for you in this restaurant, either- these people and their love stories are their own to tell now, and we really have no role left._

_Perhaps you and I can begin a new story of our own. What do you think?_

 

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what happens next? Do Izzy and Jace take the Bonded runes to stay with Meliorn, Raphael, and Simon? How does Jace fare in the trials to become Meliorn's Consort? Where do Underhill and Lorenzo go? Do Magnus and Alec adopt Madzie? How extravagant does Magnus make Luke and Maryse's wedding? Does Lydia fall in love again? Whatever the fuck happened to Helen and Aline?
> 
> Well, to be honest, I have ideas, but it's up to you guys to decide.
> 
> I wrote this epilogue when I first outlined most of this fic, while I was in the middle of Chapter Two. It still holds up to this day, still expresses how I feel when finishing this story that ended up being far more involved than I ever expected.
> 
> This isn't a full goodbye to Shadowhunters, but it is a goodbye, of sorts. I absolutely love this fandom and this TV show, and the actual finale will always hold a very special place in my heart that almost no other TV show (save Sense8) has ever managed to achieve with a finale. I might write more, I might not. Who knows? Either way, I love this show and these characters and this fandom with everything I have.
> 
> I hope you guys all enjoyed this series as much as I have! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed- they really mean a lot, especially on a story as emotionally involved as this one.


End file.
